The Host: Bong Joon-ho's Korean Monster Film

In a smorgasbord of cinematic emotion, Bong Jo-ho's monster movie The Host, is a tragic-comic thriller that tugs from every angle. Finding this film on any random trip to the theater, with no previous infection of the hype surrounding it, would be movie going bliss. Though chances are you didn't catch a preview at the big theater chains, and were only lucky enough to see them in the art houses.

That's exactly where the film is making its rounds these days after a highly triumphed tour of the film festivals. Though don't see this horrifically fantastic film because it screened at Cannes, Toronto and New York Film Festivals, or raked in 5 awards from Korea's Blue Dragon Awards. Don't see it because it is the highest grossing Korean film every made. See this film because you love a good monster movie with the depth of human drama channeled through superb acting and the satisfying quiver of subtle CGI effects. Subtle is the key here, and a collective team of CGI craftspeople who have worked on films like Sin City, The Day After Tomorrow, Harry Porter, Lord of The Rings and King Kong, breed an amphibious mutant predator. Something along the lines of an evolutionary missing link between Jaws and Alien with a prehensile tail that puts Nightcrawler to shame.

Like any good monster or sci-fi film, there is a satirical political backdrop in The Host; one at times blatant, others subversively in Bong Jo-ho's and Baek Chul-hyun's screenplay. There are consistent references to the monstrous shadow of American military science and an inept Korean government. There are also references to a sorely lacking spirit of demonstrations in Korea's labor class. Something born possibly from Bong Jo-ho's affiliation to Korea's small leftist party; The Democratic Labor Party. It is intellectual candy to speculate on the significance of toxic pollution in the Han River and its effect on Korea's working class. Bong has noted that the Han River is an integral, yet everyday element for many working class South Koreans.