The Host is a Korean monster movie getting rave reviews. Calling it a monster movie is a bit unfair, it's actually a combination of lots of genres. Walking out I called it 28 Days Later crossed with The Office. There are also elements of Brazil and Little Miss Sunshine in it. The elevator pitch for this movie is inconceivable.
The film opens with an American scientist telling a Korean scientist to pour chemicals down the sink and into the Han River. Apparently this is based on a real life incident in 2000. Then we meet the nice but dysfunctional family Park. Gang-Du is a dumb, semi-narcoleptic guy working at a food stand run by his father near the river. Gang-Du is the single father of a 13 year-old daughter Hyun-seo. Gang-Du has a sister Nam-Joo who's an archery champion with a penchant for taking too long to shoot and a brother Nam-il who's a college graduate who can't get job. Quickly into the film the monster comes out of the river in broad daylight in all it's CGI glory and enjoys munching on the pedestrians. This is people running and screaming and real monster stuff. Hyun-seo is grabbed by the monster just before it goes back into the river.
The victims are gathered at some gymnasium-like room with pictures of the dead and lots of crying. We see the whole Park family gather mourning Hyun-seo. While very sad, this degenerates to the 4 of them literally writhing on the floor in their grief. if you're not sure whether to laugh or not, it continues until there is no choice. Then we the government agents, here to help, and to collect those exposed to the creature for fear of a virus. While Gang-Du is in the hospital he gets a call from Hyun-seo who's still alive and in trapped in the sewer with the monster. No one but his family will believe him and now we have a family quest film to rescue the child.
Did I say they were dysfunctional? They are each so inept or stupid in their own way. it's uncomfortable and leads to laughter right up until people die. Hyun-seo is trapped in a sewer with dead bodies and filth all around her. it would be bad for an adult, but with a child there's an extra element of cruelty to it. She's the most capable of the family and tries to escape but can't on her own.
The rest of the population is strange too. The military has taken control but is barely seen. The doctors don't listen to anything the Parks say and are trying to quarantine them and worse because of "the virus". The US is intervening to prevent a world-wide crisis, clearly we're the bad guys.
So with all this, does it work? Mostly. I enjoyed it, but I have no need to see it again. I've seen many reviews that say it's so deep and can be taken on so many levels and i think they're nuts. I thought the middle was a bit long. Some scenes drag on far longer than needed and I don't think it was to add to Office-like discomfort. It picked up in the end and that helps. For a film that's supposed to be fun, there's a lot of sad of in it. There were a lot of occasions where I wasn't sure how I was supposed to react. Maybe that's the point, but, I'm not so sure.
No comments:
Post a Comment