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Magnolia Pictures announced today that it has acquired North American rights to director Bong Joon-Ho's "Mother", which debuted at Cannes earlier this year to stellar reviews.  If you know who Bong Joon-Ho ("The Host") is then this news should make you very happy because A) You should be anticipating this movie already and B) This means that you won't have to order that South Korean import DVD anytime soon.  Now, if you don't know who Bong Joon-Ho is then you are seriously missing out on one of the best directors who is working right now.  You can read more about "Mother" and why you should be excited for this one when you hit the jump.

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The Korean selection for this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film will center around a mother who becomes intent on proving the innocence of her son who she believes to be wrongfully accused of murder.  This might sound like a plot description to a throwaway thriller but I'm sure that Bong Joon-Ho is going to give us something special with this one.  I first became a fan of the director when I saw his monster film, "The Host", back in 2007.  I absolutely loved it and it still remains as one of my favorite films of not only that year but also of this decade.

A couple of months after watching "The Host" I tracked down the director's previous 2003 film, "Memories of Murder", which can best be described as being very "Zodiacesque", and I was once again simply blown away by it.  I know that Bong Joon-Ho's style of going from dead serious drama to almost slapstick comedy might throw some people off, but I really dig it.  If you haven't seen "The Host" or "Memories of Murder" I highly recommend that you seek them out.

Magnolia Pictures has also announced that they will also be releasing Bong's 2000 debut film, "Barking Dogs Never Bite", which was previously unreleased stateside, on what I am guessing will be a DVD release sometime soon.  I've never been able to get my hands on this one but the film is a dark comedy about an out-of-work college professor who is driven mad by the sound of barking dogs in his apartment building, eventually resorting to kidnapping them.  I haven't heard much about this one but I will definitely check it out once it comes out.

Magnolia plans on releasing "Mother" theatrically sometime early next year.