Host, The [Collector's Edition]

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South Korea´s domestic box office has always had to rely on foreign-made--mostly Hollywood films--for its profits. In Asia, Hong Kong-made films are the most popular, with most other Asian countries lagging far behind in terms of quality. However, in recent years, it is the locally made films that have been making waves and raking in the money in South Korea. This remarkable resurgence in South Korean cinema is not only affecting the domestic film market in a positive way but also the international one as well. As of now, the box office king in South Korea is 2006´s well-received monster film, "The Host." This feat is made more remarkable by the fact that this movie is a special effects-heavy extravaganza that was made on a relatively limited budget of approximately $10 million (a huge sum by local standards but a tiny drop in the pond for Hollywood movies).

The first questions that might pop into your head would be, "A South Korean-made monster movie? Wait, does it use stop-motion photography to animate the monster?" Very funny but I´m here to tell you that you would be surprised what $10 million can buy you away from Hollywood. Various pieces of the special effects on this film are actually produced by some of the biggest names in the business including Weta Workshop, The Orphanage Inc. and John Cox´s Creature Workshop.

On the surface, "The Host" may seem like a generic-sounding monster movie but at its core, it is really a social commentary on the ills of continued American military presence in South Korea, the environment and pollution and the importance of sticking together as a family. It is that last point about familial ties that makes this film not only enjoyable but touching as well. Proving once again that monster movies do not always have to be just about blood and gore to keep the audience engaged.

The creature depicted here is not some mystical monster awakened from its dormant sleep but is actually a result of man´s carelessness in treating the environment. The opening scene shows an American doctor at a military base ordering his South Korean assistant to get rid of hundreds of old bottles of formaldehyde by pouring the contents down the sink. The toxic contents empty into the Han River, the country´s main tributary that flows through the capital city, Seoul. This reckless act is used as the main reason for why an aquatic animal from the Han River mutates into a hideous man-eating creature that now prowls the river´s edge and the surrounding network of sewage drains. It may be a bit far-fetched but hey, this is after all a movie about a mutated monster.

Central to the story is the Park family, who runs a snack shack located by the river. Gang-Doo (Song Kang-Ho) is a slow-witted man and together with his father Hee-Bong (Byun Hee-Bong), they serve customers who have come to enjoy the serene surroundings, various snacks and drinks. Other members of the Park family include Gang-Doo´s young daughter Hyun-Seo (Ko A-Sung), his sister Nam-Il (Park Hae-Il) who is a champion archer (South Korea is home to many world and Olympic champions in the sport of archery) and his bitter and unemployed college-educated brother Nam-Joo (Bae Doo-Na), who is also an alcoholic.

On a beautiful afternoon, a group of people started to gather around the base of a bridge gawking at an unidentified creature hanging from the bottom of the bridge. Without warning, the monster started attacking everyone in its path. In the ensuing chaos, Gang-Doo loses sight of Hyun-Seo and she is snatched up by the monster and taken away--presumably to be eaten elsewhere.

This big opening scene is probably the most exciting and intense of all because it not only shows you the monster up close and personal but most surprisingly, it was allowed to occur so early in the film. Movie monsters are seldom revealed until much later into the film--something about teasing the audience. Director Bong Joon-Ho just obliterates that arcane concept and shoves the monster right into our faces. It is not only a refreshing change of pace but exhilarating as well.

Later on, while all the survivors of the attack are quarantined at a detention center, Gang-Doo receives a brief and garbled phone call from Hyun-Seo´s cell phone, a clear indication that she is still alive. Of course, when the authorities turn a deaf ear to Gang-Doo´s pleas for them to help find his daughter, the dysfunctional Park family decides to take matters into their own hands. And this is where the fun really starts. The unpredictable dynamics between the individual family members is such that there is never a dull moment when they are together. One minute, they could be cursing at one another and the next, hugging and crying. Even a simple scene where the four of them are just sitting around slurping down bowls of instant noodles can provide such subtle moments of hilarity that it is hard to imagine that these are really actors and not actually related to each other.

While the Park family´s obstacle-strewn journey to rescue Hyun-Seo is the highlight of the film, director Bong is able to add a layer of social commentary into his film. Mostly critical of the people in authority, Bong portrays the government and other international health agencies (like the CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) as incompetent liars who are trying to cover-up their own misdeeds. Instead of dealing with the man-eating monster and its origins, the government tries to deflect the media´s focus by stressing the danger of a non-existent virus carried by the monster.

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