This article is by Jung Hyun-mok and read by an artificial voice.
"Leaving Mom," which opened domestically on Wednesday, is a Korean-Vietnamese co-production that took three years of collaboration between the two countries' film studios, starting from the story development phase. It opened in Vietnam in August and drew 2.2 million viewers, becoming a box office hit.
Despite its chilling title, the film is a warm, tearful journey. It follows a street barber named Hoan, played by Tuan Tran, who cares for his mother Le Thi Hanh (actor Hong Dao), who has dementia. He decides to take her to Korea, a country he has never been to, to leave her in the care of his half-brother.
Director Mo Hong-jin, 52, landed the project thanks to his previous work, "On My Way Home" (2022), which explored family ties within a prison setting. That film's success in Vietnam - where stories of familial love resonate deeply - led to the proposal for Mo to direct this family-centered story.
According to the director, it was a single photo that convinced him to take on the project.
"I was given an original story treatment along with a photo showing a five-year-old child holding their mother's hand as they walked away," he said during a press conference held at a theater in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. "Seeing that image, I realized I could depict a poignant family bond through the mind of a dementia patient whose perception of time is slipping backward."
The original version of the story involved a son living in Ho Chi Minh City taking his mother with dementia to his brother in Hanoi. As producers believed its themes would also resonate in Korea, the film was reimagined as a co-production.
"I restructured the original story after observing the lives of warmhearted and affectionate Vietnamese people in places like parks and markets, and listening to real-life stories from families caring for relatives with dementia," said Mo.
Skepticism toward a Korean director who neither speaks Vietnamese nor has lived in the country faded quickly with the casting of local stars such as Tran, considered a guaranteed box office draw, and Hong Dao, often referred to as "Vietnam's national mom."
"I saw a poster of a film Tran starred in and thought he'd be perfect for the role of the son. When I reached out, he said he had enjoyed 'On My Way Home' and agreed to join the cast," Mo said. "He then recommended Hong Dao for the mother role. We sent the script to her while she was in the United States, and she immediately said yes. I remember asking the Vietnamese staff, 'Do I really deserve this kind of luck?'"
The two actors, who had previously played a mother and son in the hit film "Mai" (2024), delivered heartfelt performances. Hong Dao, in particular, reportedly took on the task of portraying dementia symptoms realistically - she wanted to make the film a career-defining piece.
What encouraged Mo the most was a remark from Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security, which is responsible for film screening and censorship.
"As a socialist country, Vietnam still maintains a system of pre-screening films. One of the officers told the Vietnamese producer to make sure I knew I had made a good film," Mo said. "Aside from requesting we remove a line about the mother living more comfortably in Korea, there was no other interference."
Korean actor Jung Il-woo plays the role of Jeong-min, the husband Le Thi Han met while working at a factory in Korea in her younger years. Both Korean and Vietnamese production teams reportedly had him at the top of their casting list. He appeared in the film without a fee, saying it was his way of returning the love he had received from the Vietnamese public.
As Le Thi Han continues to lose her memory, she remains desperate to see her son Ji-hwan, whom she left behind in Korea. While Hoan is hurt by this, he believes that his mother would have a better life if she could benefit from Korea's welfare system as a Korean national. With the he...
