BRING ME HOME is a mystery-thriller from South Korea. The story deals with some dark and brutal subjects in an impressive way. Character-driven and with a lot of heart. Screened at Fantasia 2020. Read our Bring Me Home review here!
BRING ME HOME is a South Korean mystery thriller that deals with dark subjects in a very impressive way. The main story focuses on parents fighting to find their missing son. They have no idea what happened and no clues to work with, so they grasp at anything that might help.
All the while, they also still manage to stay together despite dealing with this tragedy in very different ways. And that’s just the first 15 minutes of the movie. Then things start to get much darker!
Continue reading our Bring Me Home movie review below.
The toughest stories brought to light
Bring Me Home is definitely tough to watch at times. However, this is also the point; Whether we can “handle” watching this or not, it definitely does go on.
Only by shining a light on certain issues and challenges, can we hope to make a difference. Watching this movie from South Korea should definitely make you think about how children suffer all over the world. Mostly from how adults with malicious intentions treat them.
Don’t worry, it’s not tough to watch because we see children being abused.
Actually, we do in some cases, but mostly it’s only implied which is more than enough. Especially due to the amazing performances of the youngest actors. You don’t need to see what happens to them. Seeing the fear in their eyes is more than enough to paint a very clear – and extremely brutal – picture.
Lady Vengeance returns to the big screen
The amazingly talented Lee Yeong-ae returns to the big screen with her starring role in Bring Me Home. She starred in the 2005 movie Lady Vengeance which makes her return with this particular movie all-too appropriate.
Don’t get me wrong though; She’s no badass superhero in this movie. No, she’s a mother struggling with pain and sorrow, who will do whatever it takes to find her son and bring him home. Huh, maybe she is a badass superhero after all.
For the record, if you haven’t watched Lady Vengeance by iconic South Korean director Park Chan-wook, then please seek it out and watch it. It’s on our “Must-See South Korean Horror Movies and Thrillers” for a reason. See the full list here >
Park Chan-wook also directed movies such as Oldboy (2003) and The Handmaiden (2016). He’s probably the biggest director from South Korea along with Academy Award winner Bong Joon-ho (Parasite).
Bring Me Home at Fantasia 2020
Bring Me Home was written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker Kim Seung-woo. I am very excited to see what comes next from him if this is what he is capable of with his debut. Also impressive is the fact that this movie is under two hours, which doesn’t actually happen often with movies from South Korea.
Mostly, the fairly long runtime is due to the movies being very character-driven and having a certain slow-burn style. Bring Me Home manages to be extremely character-driven while having a rather constant pace that moves us forward. It’s elegant and impressive in every single way.
Also, I cannot give enough credit to Lee Yeong-ae. She’s a strong protagonist and plays a fierce mother with as much heart and courage as I’ve ever seen. The simple and direct poster for Bring Me Home shows this very elegantly. Now, I just really hope we’ll see more of her soon on the big screen (alternative in a Netflix series).
Bring Me Home premiered at Toronto International Film Festival back in September of 2019 and has played film festivals worldwide ever since. We screened it at Fantasia Fest 2020.
Details
Director: Kim Seung-woo
Writer: Kim Seung-woo
Stars: Lee Young-ae, Yoo Chea-myung, Park Hae-jun, Lee Won-keun
Plot
Jung-yeon is a respected nurse who dedicates all her time to searching for her son Yoon-su, who’s been missing for six years now. Even though she’s racked with guilt, she hasn’t given up hope of finding her child, and has been wandering around the surrounding towns with her husband. When her husband dies in an accident while following a false trail, her despair does not affect her determination to find Yoon-su. Meanwhile, in a fishing co-operative run by extremely suspicious people, a mute child works like a slave and gets beaten in broad daylight without anyone reacting. A young police officer notices a clear resemblance between the boy and the picture on the wanted poster for Yoon-su. Faced with the hostility of his violent and corrupt superior, he makes an anonymous call to Jung-yeon, who immediately rushes to the coastal village, unaware of the horrors she’ll discover there, and the dangers she’ll have to face.
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