If the original Godzilla (the Japanese version, before Raymond Burr) was about the United States as a nuclear power, The Host is a metaphor for the United States as a terrorist state. Or maybe it's not a metaphor. It's just about a situation involving Americans and they act with complete disregard for the safety of people and then go and terrorize them for no reason... Yeah, a metaphor suggests it's coy. The Host is very straightforward in its portrayal of the United States and its foreign policy, which makes the film's upcoming U.S. release a mystery to me. It's a release for critics mostly, some way to get knowledge of Korean films out there. I don't know. I can't figure it out.
But the politics aren't the center of The Host, they're just reality. People who'd seen it at festivals touted it online as the superior giant monster movie, but that blurb is a bit of a misnomer. While the film does feature a giant (well, not too giant, about the size of a bus) monster, it's not really a giant monster movie because it doesn't follow the rules. With the exception of that original Godzilla, these films tend to fetishize the monster, because it's the special effects feat. This fetishization goes back to the 1925 Lost World, because the monster was the deal. The films are about seeing what the monster will do. Deviations from this norm are usually considered failures (and sometimes, to be fair, are failures). The Host isn't about what the monster's going to do--seeing that exciting special effect--but about the effect of the monster. The Host is one of the most sensitive films I've seen--probably the most sensitive Korean film I've seen. It's almost indescribably affecting. From maybe thirty minutes in, there's one thing going on and the film drags you through it.
I've seen director Bong's other big film, Memories of Murder, and while it's a good film, The Host is far beyond my expectations. As a director, Bong is quiet and direct. He's delicate, actually. The Host is a delicate film, not because it might break, but because it might break you. At times it's a father-son film, a brother film, a father-daughter film, a comedy, an action film, but it mixes all these elements without detriment, because they're the traditional terms for things like what is going on in The Host. It's its own film, so I'm sort of handicapped by the terminology. Korean films tend to defy easy genre assignment (my favorite new genre from Korean films, however, will always be the sexual harassment comedy) and, while The Host is no different in that respect, it takes it to a new level. It is, as I said before, indescribable (in a very, very good way).
CREDITS
Directed by Bong Joon-ho; written by Bong, Baek Chul-hyun and Ha Won-jun; director of photography, Kim Hyung-ku; edited by Kim Seon Min; music by Lee Byung-woo; production designer, Ryu Seong-hie; produced by Choi Yong-bae; released by Showbox.
Starring Song Kang-ho (Kang-du), Byeon Hie-bong (Hie-bong), Park Hae-il (Nam-il), Bae Du-na (Nam-ju) and Ko Ah-sung (Hyun-seo).
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