Rara Reviews: The Host (2006)

(The following review was for my Movies as Narratives class I took in the Spring. The goal of the assignment was to write a review for a general audience, hence the cheesier phrases like genre-bending romp'. Some minor edits were made post-deadline.) 

Dissecting The Host

     In Bong Joon-ho’s The Host (2006), the carelessness of an American military doctor leads to a mutated monstrosity swimming up from the Han River, causing a state of panic so severe that South Korea is transformed into a military-controlled dystopia. It is part monster movie, part not-so-subtle commentary on the American military industrial complex. Whether it shows us images of the terrifying creature that carries its prey off to the vast sewage system beneath the Han, or injects slapstick comedy in the midst of otherwise dramatic scenes, The Host never fails to entertain.

     It would be selling this fantastic film short to try and categorize it into one particular genre. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times described it as “[a] carnival of horrors and a family melodrama… a rethink of those 1950s cine-quickies in which mondo ants, locusts, wasps, crabs and snails and one seriously ticked off amphibious reptile go on the rampage, visiting punishment on a hapless, guilty humanity.” Another part of The Host’s allure comes from the gorgeously crafted scenes by cinematographer Kim Hyung-ku, who foregoes the all-out gore dynamic of traditional horror films, instead creating scenes where the focal point is the characters’ reactions to the chaos that the monster creates. The strongest scenes by far are when the creature displays its tenacity and intellect to its already horrified victims, blending instinctual violence born out of nature with almost comical timing (much to the characters’ terror).

     Quirky family dynamics play a strong role in The Host. There is the good-natured yet flustered grandfather (Hie-bong Byeon), the slacker sons (Hae-il Park and Song Kang-ho), the bronze medalist daughter (Doona Bae) and the precocious granddaughter (Ah-sung Ko). The standout performance comes from Song’s character Gang-du, who is both charming and maddeningly frustrating as the clueless but loving father of Hyun-seo (Ko). “Above all, though, it is the story of how these slapstick figures rise painfully to the level of competence, and beyond” remarks Stuart Klawans in his review in Nation.

     This is Bong Joon-ho’s third feature film. It has received wide accolade, including Best Film at the 2007 Asian Film Awards, Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Baeksang Film Awards. This genre-bending romp is a true original and worth repeated viewings on the big screen. Don’t take my word for it, though. Get out there and dissect The Host yourself!