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Film: The Host
Release date: 21st May 2007
Certificate: 15
Running time: 120 mins
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Byeon Hie-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona, Ko Ah-sung
Genre: Comedy/Drama/Horror/Sci-Fi/Thriller
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
The monster movie has become fashionable recently, after years spent wandering the doldrums, thanks largely due to Roland Emmerich’s 1998 god-awful Godzilla remake. Whilst the SyFy channel still gleefully holds the torch of incomprehensibly stupid B-movies starring giant killer sharks of some mutation, monsters in mainstream cinema have been undergoing something of a renaissance. 2007s Cloverfield took the Blair Witch formula and dressed it up in post 9/11 imagery as a gigantic largely unseen creature ran amok in Manhattan. Most recently, first time director Gareth Edwards has been wowing critics with Monsters, an art house road movie set along the US/Mexican which just so happens to feature leviathan space aliens. Predating both of these films, however, is The Host, a South Korean production released in 2006, which blended a modern sense of realism to the age old monster movie concept with a crushingly macabre sense of humour and, most crucially, a highly emotional dramatic core.
Opening in a mortuary within a US Army camp based within Seoul, an American scientist recklessly orders his Korean assistant to drain hundreds of bottles of toxic formaldehyde down a sink on the basis that the bottles are dusty. After much hesitation, the assistant obliges, and the chemicals are disposed of without a care for the effects it could have upon the local ecosystem of the Han River. Sure enough, six years later, strange sightings are reported around the river surrounding the Wonhyo Bridge, which connects the Northern and Southern districts of Seoul.
Located on the river bank, Park Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) helps run his father’s refreshment stand. Living on the premises, Gang-du is lazy and greedy, helping himself to the odd squid leg or two, but he is redeemed somewhat by his earnest devotion to his daughter Hyun-seo (Ko Ah-seong). Gang-du is perhaps overshadowed by his much talented sister, Nam-Joo (Bae Doona), a professional archer, but is at least on a par with his brother, Nan-il (Park Hae-il) an alcoholic, unfulfilled college graduate.
What seems like a normal day quickly descends into horror, as the monster makes its first public appearance, running amok along the river bank and swallowing people whole. Gang-du is witness to the whole ordeal, and has the courage (or sheer stupidity) to confront the monster. Unfortunately, the monster grabs Hyun-seo with its tail and quickly escapes from the area. Soon after, the whole area is cordoned off by the authorities, with all citizens ordered to evacuate. After the remaining family meet up at the evacuation centre, mourning the apparent death of Hyun-seo, they are whisked away by the containment authorities after Gang-du openly admits to having direct contact with the creature.
Meanwhile, we are taken away to the monster’s lair, located in the sewers, where we learn that Hyun-seo is still very much alive, though not for long; it is made apparent that she is being saved for a later dinner. In this moment, she is able to use her mobile phone to contact her father who remains confined within quarantine.
What ensues is a quest, where the family is forced to put aside their personal flaws and work together to find Hyun-seo before the monster has the chance to eat her, whilst also avoiding the government forces of the state, who, of course, are the real monsters of the movie...
The Host contains a dose of socio-political commentary. At first, the dumping of formaldehyde into the Han River could be written off with a mere chuckle, as old monster movie cliché, but it is in fact a fairly accurate account of real events that occurred in 2000. The use of Agent Yellow, a chemical weapon used to fight the monster is a reference to Agent Orange, which was used widely in Vietnam as well as Korea in the 1960s that led to thousands of children born with severe birth defects.
There is obviously an Anti-American sentiment running throughout the movie, and the filmmakers are clearly criticizing the South Korean government for being overly tied up with US relations rather than focusing on the interests of the people. This is, however, a rather heavy-handed synopsis of the movie, and it is clear that the movie doesn’t take itself this seriously. During the monster’s first attack, an American tourist heroically enters the fray as you would expect from any Hollywood action star, but he is quickly guzzled up by the monster, a demonstration of the sly sense of humour that is working throughout the course of the film.
Above all, The Host, realizes that people are flawed, and fully capable of moments of crushing stupidity. Much of the movie is driven forward by moments of stupidity or hesitation. Nothing demonstrates this more than the character of Gang-du, a blonde peroxide haired idiot of Homer Simpson proportions. Even when he has lost his daughter, he still finds time to doze off or think about his stomach. Whilst events are specifically and malevolently designed to test and torture Gang-du to the limits, the strength of the movie is in making you root for him and a resolution for this, his dysfunctional family.
The film does have a habit of being incongruous, and sometimes this is intentional - the first reveal of the monster, for example, as it comes bounding towards Gang-du along the riverside in broad daylight. It offers stark and brutal realism; this is how you’d expect people to react upon first sighting of a amphibious monster, and as the scene ends with Gang-du watching the monster from across the river casually eating people alive, it is straight up horror; the likes which other movies couldn’t hope to replicate. Other scenes, however, seem to slide from one tonal extreme to the other. The scene in which the family congregate and mourn the loss of Hyun-seo, is at first emotionally rousing as the sister offers her bronze medal in her memory, but it quickly becomes farcical the further the characters go into bereavement, literally rolling around in a heap bawling their eyes out, cursing one another. It is as if the filmmakers are slapping the audience in the face, telling them to wise up, because it’s only a movie. On the other hand, these moments of tonal imperfection give the first viewing a sense of randomness - you think you have the movie sussed, but, at the same time, the characters could let you down, and everything could be in vain.
During the hype preceding the release of Cloverfield, it was widely speculated that the movie was going to be an American remake of The Host. Luckily, it wasn’t. The Host remains a hidden gem in Korean cinema, as well as the entire pantheon of monster movies in general. A well executed oddball tale of one family’s fight against the state and a giant mutated newt. CPH
Film: The Good The Bad The Weird
Release date: 15th June 2009
Certificate: 15
Running time: 126 mins
Director: Kim Ji-woon
Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Jung Woo-sung, Jo Kyeong-hun, Kim Kwang-il
Genre: Action/Adventure/Comedy/Western
Studio: Icon
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
After achieving critical acclaim with his 2005 film A Bittersweet Life, South Korean director Kim Ji-woon went completely off-kilter with his follow-up.
Set in the 1930s of the lawless Far East, a mysterious map is being transported on a train across the desert to be taken to the Imperialist Japanese commanders. As it makes its way across the terrain, three bounty hunters make their way to stake their claim on the prize. Amidst the confusion, The Weird escapes with the map, forcing The Good and The Bad to put aside their conflict and leave the scene in search of the means to find the untold riches that map has knowledge of.
As the chase continues, with an ever-increasing array of antagonists adding themselves to the conflict, the disgruntlement becomes a skirmish, and the skirmish becomes an all out war. Building towards a gigantic battle royale in the heat of the desolate landscape, The Good, The Bad and The Weird each manipulate and make use of the various additions to the chase, as they dodge bullets, cannons, horses, machines and corpses en route to the final stand off around the prize they fought so hard to get to...
To critique The Good The Bad The Weird without making mention of the Sergio Leone masterpiece would be ignoring the obvious. It is evident that Kim Ji-woon has been highly influenced by the Man With No Name trilogy, in particular the revered climax to the story. The director has not attempted to copy, parody or pastiche the original creation, as there is an undeniable warmth and charm that is present throughout the chaotic discord. Kim Ji-woon has merely transferred elements of The Good, The Bad And The Ugly to an Eastern setting, but given it a slightly zany twist and ramped up the action to differentiate from the source. However, it is Kim Ji-woon’s instincts as an action director that let the project down when it needed guidance the most.
It’s no surprise when looking at the glossy shine and luscious cinematic panoramas that The Good The Bad The Weird is South Korea’s most expensively made film, but there is little plot. After the satisfactory and warming opening skirmish, there is little else to keep the viewer interested as the action gleefully, and unashamedly, hops from one set piece to the next. The mania comes thick and fast, but mainly in the thick, as segments are dragged out to ridiculous proportions, taking five, ten and sometimes even fifteen minutes longer than necessary just to fit in a ludicrous gunfight with absolutely no progression of the story. The climactic free-for-all that is the film’s penultimate sequence is turgid and overly long, but what is immensely infuriating is the complete lack of perspective or objective. The setting is a vast plain for miles on end, which spawns an orgy of mayhem from which anyone escaping could be easily seen, yet one of heroes manages, somehow, to ride out of the madness only for there to be a cut and all three of the bounty-hunters to be present at the locale.
What is unforgivable is the lack of attention and detail that goes into the three most important pieces of this cinematic puzzle, and that being the three main characters, which the film is named after. In East Asian cinema, there is always a greater deal of ambiguity present than in their European counterparts, but the way in which the traits of The Good, The Bad, and The Weird interchange at varying junctures is somewhat defeatist. Jung Woo-sung, who plays The Good, has evidently spent a great deal of time watching the spaghetti western trilogy - he mimics Eastwood’s stance, tone and style in an almost frighteningly accurate portrayal. However, while Woon’s creation doesn’t set out to be an imitation, at this point in The Man With No Name trilogy, Eastwood’s character had already adopted a softer stance, becoming much less of an anti-hero and more a traditional protagonist with attitude. Jung Woo-sung, unfortunately, finds himself lacking the necessary aura to provide legitimacy to his version of The Good, and suffers from the ever interchanging roles of the three gunmen.
Apart from some delightful camera work, and a score that echoes Morriconne’s iconic creation, The Good The Bad The Weird is an ultimately hollow experience that lurches back into the comfort of an action genre all too readily. It leaves the viewer wishing that Kim Ji-woon had perhaps shown some of the characteristics in A Bittersweet Life - cutting out some of the action and focusing more on character progression, allowing the individuals to flourish and come to life, so as not to be viewed as cardboard cut-outs.
While an enjoyable and unintelligible watch, bigger does not always mean better, and it leaves the viewer wondering whether another of South Korea’s plethora of talented directors could have created a more meaningful cinematic experience for a few dollars less. BL
Film: Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance
Release date: 28th February 2-005
Certificate: 18
Running time: 121 mins
Director: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Doona Bae, Lim Ji-eun, Han Bo-bae
Genre: Crime/Drama/Thriller
Studio: Palisades Tartan
Format: DVD
Country: South Korea
Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is the first instalment of what has subsequently been dubbed the ‘Vengeance Trilogy’ along with successive works Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005). While the three films are not directly linked via narrative or characters, they do evoke the same thematic substratum consisting of anger, loss and (as the trilogy’s title denotes) revenge.
The story fixates on well meaning deaf-mute Ryu (Ha-kyan Shin) who is desperate to save the life of his ill sister, and resorts to dealings with underground organ traders to find a kidney to match her blood type. Unable to pay the full amount, despite giving them all the money he has, Ryu loses one of his own kidneys to make up the difference.
However, when a compatible kidney then mysteriously becomes available, Ryu has no money left to pay for the operation. With time running out, he and his terrorist girlfriend (Doona Bae) kidnap a wealthy businessman’s (Kang-ho Song) daughter and hold her to ransom, with their actions leading to torture, pain and revenge…
Like its subsequent filmic counterparts, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance serves up a compelling examination into the psychologically transformative process undergone when one seeks revenge on another, and explores the barbarity one is willing to cause when motivated by anger and hate. But, unlike its successors, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance achieves this largely without the flash and pretence that shapes those latter films. Indeed, much like Takashi Miike’s breakthrough feature Audition (1999), this is a film that exhibits a lot of restraint; quietly disarming its audience to give the havoc unleashed in the final act extra resonance.
The pace of the story, while slow burning, is strangely engaging nonetheless. Shin’s deaf-mute steel welder, Ryu, generates empathy without ever having to say an audible word of dialogue; though we are occasionally privy to his thoughts via a sporadic internal monologue and subtitled sign language exchanges between him and his girlfriend. Song’s businessman is also commendable; playing host to an interesting shift in story dynamic in the aftermath of the botched kidnapping where he becomes protagonist, leaving the audience with the difficult decision of who to morally support as the stakes are raised.
Kim Byung-il’s camera work is equally passive and restrained, favouring locked off compositions over the elaborate and fluid motions that have gone on to characterise and form a major part of the Park Chan-wook experience. It may be worthy to note that this film marks Kim’s only collaboration with Park, with Chung-hoon Chung lensing the other two ‘Vengeance’ films and everything that’s followed thus far. For this reason, those who are well versed Park Chan-wook’s oeuvre may be disheartened by Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance’s rather minimalist and languid style at first. The camera sometimes feels oddly detached from the emotional situation depicted on screen. Characters are frequently lost in wide frames or interestingly disfigured in some of the film’s more stylised shots; Ryu’s first encounter with the black market organ dealers for instance. The results for the most part are beautiful, lending the film a quite sense of professionalism that, while not as immediately striking as Park Chan-wook’s latter work, is still appreciable and rewarding for the viewer.
Another initially frustrating but ultimately rewarded facet is the film’s method of storytelling that places just as much onus on what isn’t seen as on what is. Certain key moments are purposefully left on the cutting room floor - we never see the actual kidnapping of the businessman’s daughter, for example, going from planning it in one scene to having the girl playing on the floor of Ryu’s sister’s apartment, both of whom are unaware as to the real reason why. There are enough clues in the surrounding scenes to suggest that (according to Ryu) the girl has been placed in Ryu’s charge whilst her mother recovers from an accident in the hospital. It’s an approach that requires the audience’s full attention, which is also somewhat risky. It’s a style that will either draw the viewer in by making them fill in the blanks of the narrative, or alienate them by not easily giving them all the facts.
The sporadic moments of extreme violence follows a similar mandate. Some moments are quite brutal, such as Ryu’s eventual facing off against the organ traders, whilst other moments negate, showing the act itself in favour of exploring the tense build up and the bloody aftermath. This aptly fits in with the film’s selective storytelling motif, although cynics may interpret it as a cost cutting device. However, the main focus of Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance is the notion of the aftermath of a tragic event transforming the otherwise good natured victim into brutal and violent persona, so, with that in mind, the motif of skipping the act itself so as to immediately explore that action’s consequences is highly appropriate, and works within the framework of the narrative.
However, these proceedings don’t go by without a sense of humour. Like much of South Korea’s cinematic output of late, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance exhibits a fine veneer of jet black humour, giving the film a sense of balance and relief. An early scene depicts Ryu’s sister writhing on the floor in pain from her failing kidney prompting a group of horny teenage men in the apartment next door to mistake the moans of pain with those of ecstasy – they feverishly get their rocks off with ears pressed against the wall, convinced that they’re eavesdropping on a highly sexual and private moment. Some quirkiness misses the mark, for instance; the mentally handicapped man who randomly resides near the river – a location that plays a pivotal role in the slowly unfolding narrative – and occasionally shambles into shot for no perceivable purpose. It may be a way of counter balancing Ryu’s disability, and perhaps emphasises that, through no fault of his own, Ryu being deaf (as opposed to the kidnapping itself) was the catalyst for the ensuing bloodshed.
Those simply looking for another Oldboy will be sorely disappointed by the film’s different yet gripping style that lacks the immediacy in which that landmark film operates. It may take a couple of viewings to appreciate it, but Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a quiet, deceptively complex and thought provoking work about the futility of revenge and the pain inflicted on those involved.
Whilst emotive and highly compelling, Sympathy of Mr. Vengeance doesn’t offer the instant gratification and perceived righteousness that other, more conventional revenge flicks do. Instead, Park Chan-wook presents a challenging and conflicting attitude towards the subject which will enthral some and infuriate others. MP
