The Host

My friend Harold stuck a six-pack of cheap beer into my backpack just before entering the Landmark Sunshine Cinema to see Bong Joon-ho monster movie, ‘The Host.’ I was a bit nervous because I’d only gone so far as sneaking popcorn and sodas into the movies before this and I was afraid someone would smell the beer, tell an usher and get me kicked out of my favorite movie house in all of New York City (Sorry BAM: you shouldn’t have nixed the $10 popcorn special). I didn’t want a lifetime ban, and the fact that Harold once got every guest at his birthday party kicked out of a beer garden for throwing empty bottles into the neighbors’ yards didn’t inspire much confidence. Even though Harold waited for the quietest moment to open his beer, the ushers’ never arrived and the theatre smelled nothing like a dive bar at 3 a.m. On an utterly unrelated note though, beer and Twizzlers are not two great tastes that taste great together. This would seem obvious but i am an idiot.

Perhaps it was the beer but it took me a long time to figure out who was who at the beginning of ‘The Host.’ I knew there was a responsible older man named Hie-Bong, who ran a food stand on the banks of the river Han. His seemingly narcoleptic son, Gang-du, works the stand as well, if you can call what he does work: he sleeps a lot and spends the rest of his time snacking on his customers’ food while preparing. His father would like him to think outside this particular box but seems to pick up the slack for his lazy son.

After that, things become a little hazy: there is a younger girl, Hyun-seo, who seems like Gang-du’s sister (he enthusiastically shows her his collection of coins – his entire savings - with which he will buy her a new cell phone) but later turns out to be his daughter. They watch the TV as a sister, Doo-na, competes for the national archery title but it takes a while to figure out whose sister she is (Gang-du’s). Same goes with the brother, Nam-il, who drinks a lot, complains about his lack of job prospects (even though he graduated from the University) and generally fights with Gang-du. Because there was no one around to call him Uncle, it took me almost half the film to figure out who he was. (Also Gang-du’s brother)

Why wasn’t there anyone around to call him Uncle? Because the one person who could, Hyun-seo, has been kidnapped by a mutant sea monster which emerged one day from the River Han.

I know these are small details and don’t even begin explain what the film is like but I mention them for a reason. ‘The Host’ is a monster movie and a very good one. It follows the adventures this very imperfects family’s attempts to rescue Hyun-seo from the monster’s lair and does so with verve, intelligence, and frankly, sheer nerve. But before seeing ‘The Host’ I read one review of the film (Anthony Lane’s in ‘The New Yorker’) and spoke to exactly two people who’d seen it (My friend Jeremy and his friend Helen) and all three said the same thing about the movie and, even stranger, employed the same dreamy tone in describing it. To quote Helen: She’d ‘never seen anything like it before.’

I concede that some of this may be cultural: It is a Korean film and it took some time to decipher and ease into the myriad subtle cultural differences (You know what they call a Quarter-Pounder with cheese in Amsterdam?). It is true that most American films go to great and sometimes condescending lengths to lay the groundwork at the beginning of a film, making sure its audience knows the main characters’ identities, their personality types, their rung on the social-ladder and, by default, the flaws which will either seal their fate or help them rise above their inadequacies. But chalking the film’s quality up to cultural differences would do a great disservice to the million and one things which have nothing to do with culture and everything to do with skillful film-making. Joon-ho has taken a Horror/Alien/Monster hybrid and skillfully molded it into a character piece. It is like Tolstoy on the Han: All happy families are alike. All unhappy families are unhappy in their own way, especially if their youngest has been kidnapped by a formaldehyde-mutated sea monster and the authorities entrusted to solve the situation are subtly worse than the monster itself.

The film never skimps on excitement: The film’s use of CGI is subtle and, at times, poetic. And at two hours, the film moves swiftly from scene to scene, knowing exactly when to rest, when to jog, when to run, and when to flat out book. It is patient in this regard, making sure we know exactly where we are and where a scene needs to go before taking off at the necessary pace to get there. And the film is full of wonderful satire, as all monster films should be: A monster is created via human (American) stupidity and it wreaks havoc. The people most equipped to handle the situation they’ve caused (Korean, Chinese, and American governments) botch it completely while exploiting and manipulating the people they are meant to serve. So the victim’s imperfect family is left to solve the problem for themselves and that’s where the film really gets going.

Joon-ho deftly juggles everyone one of these elements without ever losing sight of the people at its rich, creamy, heart filled center. The family begins the film as a rag-tag group and pretty much ends it the same way. There are no revelations about who these people are and not one of overcomes obstacles to achieve great things. The film is less concerned with the process of saving of Hyun-seo than it with the effect her capture and their decision to save her reveals about the family. The film stays far ahead of us. So much so that by the end of the film we know exactly who everyone is and why they behave as they do. The rescue attempt brings out more than the best in these people: it brings out everything: strengths, weaknesses, flaws, longings, regrets, desires, appetites and talents. And the film allows these things to unfold without ever sacrificing the larger story in which it’s taking place. The frailty and humanity displayed by the family in reaction to the larger events and situations gives ‘The Host’ juicier targets in which to sink its sartorial teeth. Institutions may forget the people they are trying to protect. The film does not.

I won’t ruin the ending but to say that it is not what you think would be an understatement. The film ends with a sense of unsettled peace, a sense that while one thing has ended, a thousand things are out there waiting to take its place. It may be the only monster movie I’ve ever seen in which the sentiments expressed after the resolution both creeped me out more than the contents of the film. But let’s leave that aside for the moment while I figure out exactly what that means. I can only recommend that you see this movie. As Helen said, it is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.