The Mother and the Bear Movie Review

The Mother and the Bear successfully tackles the complex relationship between mother and daughter but lacks the refined script to rise above the tropes.

Sumi (Leere Park) is a school teacher in Winnipeg, Canada, but is originally from South Korea. When she slips on the ice and falls into a coma, her overbearing mother, Sara, flies from Korea to help with her recovery. Constantly worried about Sumi’s relationship status, Sara signs her up for an online dating service to talk to men on Sumi’s behalf and find her a husband by the time she wakes up. At first, she is aghast at how dingy Sumi’s apartment is and how cold Winnipeg can be, but Sara slowly begins to enjoy Canadian life and build relationships around her, including with Korean restaurant owner Sam (Lee Won-jae, of Friendly Rivalry). Still waiting for Sumi to wake up, Sara has revelations about her strained relationship with her daughter, her place in society as a widow and a mother, and the sheltered life she had been living in South Korea.

The Mother and the Bear utilises the icy cold city of Winnipeg brilliantly, with Sara coming from the much warmer country of South Korea and immediately feeling like a fish out of water in an environment where she only knows a handful of people. Not only is it a climate shock, but also a culture shock as Sara is introduced to dating apps and the art of catfishing, which provides some of the biggest laughs of the film. The film is filled with other hilarious moments of cultural misunderstandings, which only add to the slow revelations that Sara goes through.

The film is at its best when showing us how lost Sara is in her daughter’s supposed way of life, but the narrative thread does start to lose its way during her journey through her relationship with Sam. The script needed a lot more refinement for the audience to fully appreciate the journey Sara goes on internally, as it does come across as a little too sudden a change from overbearing mother to relaxed mother who wants what’s best for you. That being said, the characters are very sweet, and you can’t help but enjoy being around Sara as she karaokes her way through her feelings.

Kim Ho-jung delivers a strong, physical comedic performance that tries its hardest to elevate the writing, which is full of tropes about what an overbearing Korean mother thinks and feels. Sara loves making kimchi from scratch, leaving countless voice messages on her daughter’s phone, and is constantly on the lookout for young Korean men for her to date. It all culminates in a character we feel we have seen many times before.

Johnny Ma leans on cinematographer Inti Briones to shoot a film that is certainly attractive to look at, and creates characters that are sweet but a little predictable. A script that leaned more on either comedy or drama would have been better, but the combination of the two does not pack the punch it needed to succeed.

The Mother and the Bear will be released on January 2, 2026 at the IFC Center in New York and the following week at the Laemmle in L.A., followed by additional markets.