Ahoy, squirts! Quint here! This movie sounds so badass. I can't wait! I have nothing else to say besides I'm dying to see this thing!!! Enjoy the review, but be warned of spoilers!!!
Dear AICN,
I'm an expat living in Korea and thought you might like to hear a bit about the highly-anticipated drama/sci-fi/monster movie that has been mentioned on your site a few times. The movie was released last weekend here in Korea and has been making the headlines since. For a number of reasons. According to box office receipts this movie has taken this country by storm. Not only is it playing in every multi-plex in the country and on multiple screens, but the number of on-line and telephone reservations for the flick is unparalleled a week after its realease. Daily, between 70 and 80% of movie goers in Korea are watching this thing. And its political allegories are causing a stir. This movie is the water-cooler, bar stool, beach-bumbing talk of the moment here.
so i had to catch it. But... without English subtitles. (Subtitles were provided for the folks at Cannes, but we foreigners here tend to have to wait a few months for the DVD release if we want to catch a great Korean flick). I'm guessing all you foreigners in other countries will likely get to see it on the big screen in the fall or winter. I've never gone to see a Korean movie without subtitles before, but dared to challenge my 5 years experience with the language for this one. And am I ever glad I did.
The trailers and clips people have seen on-line do not even hint at the things you can expect.
This movie was directed by Bong Joon-ho, who brought us the superb "Memories of Murder" a couple of years back. And at least a handful of actors from that flick show up in "The Host" (aka "Gwaemul", which means 'monster'), most notably the incredibly talented Song Gang-ho. I enjoy thinking of him as the Korean Dustin Hoffman if you will. I catch every movie this guy stars in and i have never once been disappointed. Here he portrays a lazy, dim-witted, working class father who (spoiler alert) has his high-school-aged daughter snatched up by a nasty mutant residing in Seoul's Han River.
The intro to the monster is fast and furious and for those of you wondering if this thing is carnivorous, you can be rest assured that it is. You catch quite a few bodies in its multifold jaws. (There is one great, horrifying scene when the beast throws up the skeletons of its victims.) I've heard people complaining after seeing the flick about the unlikelihood of such a monster getting as large as it is without going undetected. But when you watch its intro on the screen, its obvious that it was provoked into coming on shore, by the curious folks lazing on the banks of the river. And this thing bolts on the scene the way a monster should. Sheer mesmerizing fun.
Until the thing leaps back into the river with our protagonist's daughter snagged in its coilish tail.
Then the movie goes where other sci-fi thrillers dont seem to want to go. The mass funeral where all the families of the monster' s victims are chaotically televised in mourning; the round-up of the mourners for the purpose of quarantine; the medical testing, etc. In other words, the director takes us to the realistic repercussions rather than to a subplot involving an iconic hero or anti-hero bent on saving the day with incredible combat skills and a MacGuyveresque intelligence.
This is a movie about a family who are wounded and then treated like crap in the face of an unprecented disaster. And they are normal folk. They are flawed. The director takes moments to show us how they fail in the everyday. They are clumsy, they lose athletic competitions, they save money by the coin, they get drunk and sometimes violent, they ignore responsibilities, they procrastinate and are selfish. These people are so recognizeable in their 'normality', that it makes their decision to break out of quarantine to search for the young girl so much more heroic and dangerous. We know we are in for a ride and we are scared for them. (i won't mention how they discover that the girl is alive since i don't need to spoil everything...)
The not so good : The CGI is spotty at times. For some reason they decided to give the monster (and we see a lot if it in the 2+ hours) a very agile, acrobatic presence despite its clunky and globulous frame. When its swinging away under the bridges, you may find your disbelief a bit unsuspended. And as the opening scene (luckily in English) allows us a basic explanation for the creature's existence, the movie fails to explain anything about its biology, about the science of the thing we are watching. There is no speculation going on at all. The science (hence the sci-fi label attached to this movie) is reserved for the subplot about a U.S.-government imposition that the creature is spreading a deadly virus when there really is no virus at all. (This part i grasped as it is explained by an English speaking actor, who i could swear was played by the same guy who played the lazy-eyed insectologist who flirts with Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs).
The very good : The performances are fantastic. Song Gang-ho gives us something new yet again, and even manages to make us laugh out loud on more than one uncomfortable occasion. The rest of the actors portraying the heroically inclined family should be praised as well, most notably Byeon Hye-bong who portrays the brave, wizened grandfather, and Ko Ah-sung who plays the captured youngster with a startling maturity.
The monster is great. You will not be disppointed, unless of course you are one of those Godzilla-loving types who agree that size matters. It is not a huge creature, but it is original and spooky.
The political allegories are nicely played out. They are subtle, but they are there for those of you who enjoy a good banter about American influence on the East.
As for the anglicized title... well... after watching the movie and knowing quite a bit about Korean culture from having lived here for 5 years, I would have to say it's a perfect choice. There are several "hosts" in the story. The monster in believed to host some kind of virus; the Han River is host to the monster itself; Korea plays host to an unapologetic (see the movie to catch my meaning here) American military; and Korea hosts a beautiful family-centric culture that basically saves the day. Here we see the differences in generations : the grandfather's conservative teachings and infuence, the father's borderline apathy and submission to the ways of the world around him, and the youngsters' liberal eagerness to grasp what is new about the world, the changes, and mysteries, with fiery courage. Think of this at the end of the movie...
But more than anything, this movie is glorious for its poetry. Yes, there is all the horror, action, spectacle, drama, and even comedy, that you expect from this director. But here, he proves he is poet. Lucidity and awe are mixed so wonderfully in moments, that you realize you haven't blinked for quite some time. There are images so original, that you will remember them for days, and there are nuances in the most frantic and suspenseful of scenes, that you can only wish other directors are watching and learning.
I've read that there is a remake in the works already. And like the time I heard they were planning the same for Park Chan-Wook's "Old Boy", i can't help but shake my head in exasperation. You do not remake poetry, no matter how successful and/or entertainingly original it is. And this movie is poetry. A sci-fi, monster, action flick, yes. But here's the beauty of the thing, and the reason why the poeple at Cannes, and the audiences in Korea are clamouring to rewatch the thing -- its poetry. Its a thing of monstrous beauty.
Call me Grasshopper.
