TIFF Review: The Host

The TIFF booklet tells me that Korean horror movies are known for it's lack of monster. Therefore, The Host attempts to make amends by giving us one really big monster. The rain and thunder outside the theatre that night seem to create the perfect prelude for a Korean monster horror flick. With people sharing brollies in what must have been a line of hundreds, snaking around many corners (my friend Alison and I arrived 30min early too!), the doors opened and we all ran into the theatre hoping what happened last night at Borat would not repeat tonight.

Director Bong Joon-ho took the stage at 20 minutes past midnight in front of a nearly full house at the Ryerson theatre. Dressed in all black, he flashed us a big boyish smile before saying in a very heavy Korean accent: "Thank you......for....coming to see my film. I hope.......you will enjoy."

I was thoroughly charmed at the modesty of a director who Olivier Père hailed as the "one of the greatest directors in the world" at the Cannes this year. The Host has been called a masterpiece by many, broke "all the records" in Korea this summer and reportedly already raked in millions in foreign distribution rights. I don't think he had a speech prepared, but the crowd (with a large population of Koreans youths) roared, ready to take on The Host.

For a movie born from a photoshopped picture of the Loch Ness monster, The Host sure looks a lot better. Bong collaborated with graphic specialists from Weta Workshop (Lord of the Rings), Creature Workshop (Babe) and The Orphanage (Hellboy) to create the hulking monster known as The Host (or in Korean, simply The Monster).

However, at the heart of the film is not the Host, it is a dysfunctional family trying desperately to stay together. Gang-du, played by Song Kang-ho (JSA, Memories of Murder), is a loser-father character whose determination will stop at nothing to rescue his daughter who has been abducted by the Host. After a cellphone call from her confirms that she is still alive, Gang-du along with his swindler father, college-educated alcoholic brother and bronze-medal (only bronze!) Olympic archer sister go on a free-for-all rescue mission in the tunnels near the Han river to rescue Ah-Sung.

The hijacked truck and 80s mafia weapons screamed Little Miss Sunshine, but instead of a beauty competition, we have a big monster. Bong does a fantastic job keeping us laughing, screaming, and rooting for the family despite their tendencies to behave nothing short of what any normal person would consider crazy. It's also great to seen Bong put the brakes on genre conventions; the fact the first Host attack occurs in broad daylight you know you've got a true auteur.

The much talked-about political subtext of the movie is evident from the very first scene. Though there's been wildfire about this, it is certainly a sideshow to our lovable screwball slap-stick family. Sure, it screams of South Korea anti-US military sentiments, but as Bong noted in the Q&A any monster film has political subtext, and his is no exception.

Bong Joon-ho (right) start the Q&A, Sept 9 at TIFF.

The Q&A was tough, with Bong's struggling translator scribbling madly onto a pad while he spoke. But they toughed it out, and if I knew Korean I am sure I would have roared at all the jokes that most of the audience couldn't stop laughing about. Unforunately, as of right now there are no plans for a sequel (Bong answered in the Q&A that the spor that fell off the Host near the end is a fish, not a spor).

Bong's boyhood fantasy that a monster lived under a bridge in the Han river is a full out hit. With an imminent US release and remake talks in progress, The Host has already gained the instant cult status it deserves.

UPDATE: Here is the trailer on YouTube. The movie has been picked up for US distribution by Magnolia Pictures but the release date is unknown. If you know Korean there is a funny bit on Naver blog on 16 things will change in The Host if the movie gets a Hollywood remake (4. The monster has claws the size of a grown man's fist, and many, many teeth. ) Very funny, I read the translation at ImDb

TIFF Review: Brand Upon the Brain!

Guy Maddin's new movie is not just a film, it's an experience. With 11 members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, an original score, foley artists, a narrator and a singer, Maddin took the stage and declared this a formal attempt to bring silent film back.


Overacted in the classic silent film style, the story is about a boy who owns an island, Guy to be exact, who goes home to reminisce his strange childhood at his mother's request. Shot over 9 days in Seattle in beautiful high contrast black and white cinematography, and camera work like an experimental film, lively and full of movement, Maddin creates an aura that reminds me of the Maritimes. The memories of Guy's boyhood are presented in 12 chapters, each one more absurd than the last.

The story follows young Guy going back to the island and orphanage his family once owned and trying to relive and resolve the eerie and odd memories of his childhood. From his overbearing mother, who sits in a lighthouse to spy on her kids; the aerophone, a device which runs on the fuel of emotions that Guy's dad invented for the family to keep in touch; his wilting flower sister, Sis, with whom Guy is in the bermuda triangles of romantic triangles involving a young detective with ambiguous sexuality.

I think what I liked the most about Maddin's film is that it speaks to the value of memory. Though viewers can laugh and see the holes in Guy's childhood, young Guy cannot. Thus at the climatic moments, it is simply "too much for Guy!" As Maddin presents his most-likely fictitious childhood, he along with the audience can see in hindsight the obvious oversight of our once young naive and tragic self. He even laughs about it (now), squeezing every last giggle out in the most absurd situations: most memorably when a block of butter gets stuck to the wall.

Like other Maddin's film, it is erotic and distinctly Canadian, delicious and bold. Get tickets now for the New York performance, when Isabella Rossellini will be the narrator during the New York Film Festival. Those in Sydney, Australia might also be in luck, as I overheard a couple high power executives banter about bringing the performance there.

UPDATE: Just got this week's Time magazine in the mail, there is a fun piece on Maddin in their TIFF coverage.