Movie Review: Gwoemul (The Host)
I'm just back from Michigan Theater - my host to movies of many flavors and languages. The Host (Directed by Bong Joon-ho) is the second Korean movie I've ever watched. The first (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...And Spring) was brilliant and deep. The Host is a monster movie - and I don't know what to make of it. It's a little absurd - like when you eat something but aren't sure whether you liked it or not but are sure you'll remember it. For a long time I've romanticized with the cranky idea of making a movie that completely stumps everyone's logic by defying regular commonsense - just to annoy people - Gwoemul does that sometimes. For example, after the monumental effort to save the little kid from the monster - the kid dies. uh? I already broke the climax - you can read on if you want.
The movie starts in the right spirit - entertaining and mildly frightening - complete with slapstick laughs and edge-of-the-seat sounds and scenes. The story starts with an American military guy instructing a Korean assistant to dump formaldehyde into the Han river because the bottles storing the danger-liquid are dusty (by the way, the dumping is a real incident). Over the years, the formaldehyde causes an environmental hazard and somehow produces a deadly monster - that looks somewhat like a 20-foot slimy, dark gigantic fish with a mouth that loosely resembles a...um...female body part and it loves to swing like a professional gymnast on Seoul's various bridges. Absurd. Don't worry - read on - this movie is the highest grossing South Korean movie ever and has a A- rating from critics on Yahoo! Movies. In its grand entry, the monster kills aplenty and captures Hyun-seo - a 13-year old girl. This incident brings her family closer - a sleepy father with blond hair (Park Gang-du), an unkempt grandfather (Hee-bong), an aunt (Nam-joo) who's a national-level archer and an uncle (Nam-il) who's college-educated but mostly drunk. Of particular note is a melodramatic family grieving scene after they assume that the kid is dead - it's part funny (was it supposed to be?) and somehow very embarrassing (I don't know why). The rest of the movie is about how the monster supposedly infuses a deadly virus onto whomever it touched or spat on, how America's Agent Yellow (a virus combating chemical) is protested by Korean NGO groups, how we discover that the virus finally was all about propaganda, how the monster kills the grandfather, how the monster chews all flesh but spits out bones by dozens, how the monster gets burnt, how the kid gets killed, how Agent Yellow causes noses and ears to bleed and how the kid's friend gets rescued from the monster's esophagus and finally survives.
There are some cool scenes where the kid tries to escape while the monster snores - she sprints on top of the sleeping monster to jump up to a hanging escape but the monster quietly catches her with its tail and drops her to the ground. There are some really funny scenes. On a rainy night, a crowd (all with protective masks) at a bus stop listens to a radio/TV warning on the deadly virus and its symptoms of sneezing and wheezing. Suddenly one of them sneezes, takes his mask out and spits into puddle of water on the road scaring other bystanders - in the next instant, a bus speeds by - splashing virus-infected water on everybody. Some scenes are just expected - much like Bollywood movies. The revenge has to be taken by the father - and everyone has to contribute. So while the grandfather dies fighting the monster, while the drunk-uncle hires a guy to pour gasoline and while the archer-aunt fires off a burning arrow into its eye (bull's eye?) - it's the dad who opens the jaws of the monster to pull out the kids (literally) from its gooey insides and pierces a pole into it- twists and turns it until it dies - releases it a little slowly allowing the vibrating pole to finally stop. The camera then focuses on the round impression of the pole on Gang-du's hand. The movie ends with the Gang-du guarding a snowy Han river from possibly future monsters and eating dinner with his adopted son - the little friend of his daughter. This happens in the backdrop of an American news channel that shows a White House-type environment where someone mentions "misunderstanding" or some other word like it. Ahem.
The movie starts in the right spirit - entertaining and mildly frightening - complete with slapstick laughs and edge-of-the-seat sounds and scenes. The story starts with an American military guy instructing a Korean assistant to dump formaldehyde into the Han river because the bottles storing the danger-liquid are dusty (by the way, the dumping is a real incident). Over the years, the formaldehyde causes an environmental hazard and somehow produces a deadly monster - that looks somewhat like a 20-foot slimy, dark gigantic fish with a mouth that loosely resembles a...um...female body part and it loves to swing like a professional gymnast on Seoul's various bridges. Absurd. Don't worry - read on - this movie is the highest grossing South Korean movie ever and has a A- rating from critics on Yahoo! Movies. In its grand entry, the monster kills aplenty and captures Hyun-seo - a 13-year old girl. This incident brings her family closer - a sleepy father with blond hair (Park Gang-du), an unkempt grandfather (Hee-bong), an aunt (Nam-joo) who's a national-level archer and an uncle (Nam-il) who's college-educated but mostly drunk. Of particular note is a melodramatic family grieving scene after they assume that the kid is dead - it's part funny (was it supposed to be?) and somehow very embarrassing (I don't know why). The rest of the movie is about how the monster supposedly infuses a deadly virus onto whomever it touched or spat on, how America's Agent Yellow (a virus combating chemical) is protested by Korean NGO groups, how we discover that the virus finally was all about propaganda, how the monster kills the grandfather, how the monster chews all flesh but spits out bones by dozens, how the monster gets burnt, how the kid gets killed, how Agent Yellow causes noses and ears to bleed and how the kid's friend gets rescued from the monster's esophagus and finally survives.
There are some cool scenes where the kid tries to escape while the monster snores - she sprints on top of the sleeping monster to jump up to a hanging escape but the monster quietly catches her with its tail and drops her to the ground. There are some really funny scenes. On a rainy night, a crowd (all with protective masks) at a bus stop listens to a radio/TV warning on the deadly virus and its symptoms of sneezing and wheezing. Suddenly one of them sneezes, takes his mask out and spits into puddle of water on the road scaring other bystanders - in the next instant, a bus speeds by - splashing virus-infected water on everybody. Some scenes are just expected - much like Bollywood movies. The revenge has to be taken by the father - and everyone has to contribute. So while the grandfather dies fighting the monster, while the drunk-uncle hires a guy to pour gasoline and while the archer-aunt fires off a burning arrow into its eye (bull's eye?) - it's the dad who opens the jaws of the monster to pull out the kids (literally) from its gooey insides and pierces a pole into it- twists and turns it until it dies - releases it a little slowly allowing the vibrating pole to finally stop. The camera then focuses on the round impression of the pole on Gang-du's hand. The movie ends with the Gang-du guarding a snowy Han river from possibly future monsters and eating dinner with his adopted son - the little friend of his daughter. This happens in the backdrop of an American news channel that shows a White House-type environment where someone mentions "misunderstanding" or some other word like it. Ahem.
posted by pravs at 12:15 AM
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