I was introduced to the work of director Bong Joon-ho some years ago through his fantastic serial killer study, Memories of Murder (2003). I remember even then being instantly drawn past the obvious language barrier and deep to a crisp and meticulously detailed visual world. The Host continues with the director’s keen ability to extract those filmic elements that traditionally languish in shadow and darkness, exposing them uncompromisingly to the light.
Empathy for the Beast
It would be a great disservice to all involved to simply label The Host as South Korea’s addition to horrors 'Creature Feature' pigeonhole. The beast that here drags from the Han is indeed one born of human folly but it is one that immediately inspires an off kilter vein of empathy and pity.
Creature based horrors of The Hosts ilk traditionally come pre-package with a set of ‘must-haves’ to placate its somewhat stale ethos. They must be larger than life and yet inspire sympathy as they wreak their provoked vengeance. Additionally these children of misadventure are more than often to be by-products of human greed, our clandestine adventures into those ecological or ethical territories in which we have no place meddling. The Host takes on these elements but carefully reworks and sharpens their obviously metaphoric substance.
This is a slice of entertainment that is larger than life but not ridiculously so. As we see its creature clumsily struggling for footing in its first venture onto dry land it is fantastic, but really nothing more than a fish out of water. A scared and defensive creature that slips and bungles its way across our screen in broad daylight. There is no sneaky attempt here by the director to hide his creations form from the searing eye of the camera. It is front and center and it excels at erasing the fact that its pixels were rendered within an animation studio and not at the bottom of a wide and polluted river.
The Hosts Pointed Political Satire
Some will recoil from the political and social commentary that is for the most part expertly woven into the films fabric. Metaphor and symbolism reign within a narrative that pulls no punches and is in many cases far from subtle. A well-tuned and deliciously misleading virus subplot creeps along the films spine as it seeks to incriminate the hapless beast. It broadens the proceedings dramatically to encompass themes of political manipulation and toys with the audience’s notion to accept the obvious.
The Host – Acting and Suspending Disbelief
Acting and character wise The Host again plays with convention. The family at the heart of its story is one far from the functional neat units that are nowadays passed off as the norm. These are the Park’s, a wildly exaggerated bunch that bicker, brawl and even slide into slapstick. Political correctness is here left at the gate. Never more perhaps than in constructing the unconventional and yet wholly affecting relationship of Park Gang-Du (Kang-ho Song) to his young daughter Park Nam-Joo (Park Hyun-seo).
Boon Joon-ho offers up a prime example of the notion that suspension of disbelief does not have to be burdened with excessive logic. The ridiculousness of traipsing throughout an entire film with a bow and quiver of arrows strapped to your back for example bleeds away as it nails the connection between an aunt and her beloved niece. Subtle no but ingeniously unforced and fitting nonetheless.
Watch the subtitled version and watch it more than once – there is a lot more here that meets the already visually overindulged eye.
The Host
Original Title: Gwoemul (Korean)
- Director… Joon-ho Bong (Memories of Murder)
- Writers… Joon-ho Bong, Won-jun Ha, Chul-hyun Baek
- Cast:
- Kang-ho Song (Thirst) as Park Gang-Du
- Hie-bong Byeon (Memories of Murder) as Park Hie-bong
- Hae-il Park (Memories of Murder) as Park Nam-il
- Doona Bae (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) as Park Nam-Joo
- Park Nam-Joo (A Brand New Life) as Park Hyun-seo
- DVD Release Date… July 24, 2007
- Filming Locations… Seoul, South Korea (Wonhyo Bridge)
- Creature Design… Chin Wei-chen
- Visual Effects… Weta Workshop (modeling), The Orphanage (now defunct), John Cox's Creature Workshop (animatronics)
- Runtime… 119 minutes
- Magnolia Pictures
- View Trailer: The Host
Hari Navarro - Hari Navarro is Topic Editor for Suite 101's Horror Film section and Editor/ Writer at online horror review site, The Hell Street ...
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