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A tentacled sea monster has a young woman on this simple poster for Bong Joon Ho's The Host |
A torn up little Korean family of losers have their daughter kidnapped by an awesome sea monster, created from a deliberate chemical spill by the US military.
The Host is written by Won-jun Ha (Spygirl/Geunyeoreul moreumyeon gancheob (2004)), Chul-hyun Baek (Under Cover/Eondeokeobeo (2021, TV-series)) and South Korean master filmmaker, co-writer/director Bong Joon Ho (Barking Dogs Never Bite/Flandersui gae (2000)), whose 3rd feature it is. The original title translates to 'monster'.
It is an effective, modern monster movie with an unusual focus (the family are deliberately drawn as losers, centered on running a tiny noodle shack by the river.) The actors do their part valiantly, and the monster is impressively created in a successful mesh of practical effects and (mostly) CG animation. Today there are scenes in the film that inevitably makes an audience think of the China Virus pandemic, lending The Host a prophetic quality.
The Host also has handsome photography (by Hyung Koo Kim (Woman on the Beach/Haebyeonui yeoin (2006)), and shows promises for Ho's knack for acerbic contemporary commentary in outrageous, often darkly funny scenarios. Here the US military are obviously to blame, but the local government is at least co-responsible, and wholly responsible for the wild, intrusive and destructive overreactions to the monster and possible virus loose. The chase gets a bit long, and a sentimental injection in the narrative towards the end is a bit jarring, but The Host is still a remarkable and odd film that demands to be seen.
Related posts:
Bong Joon Ho: The day after ... the 2020 Oscars
Parasite/기생충 (Gisaengchung) (2019) or, The Haves and the Have Nots
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