I must admit, I came into this movie-viewing with zero expectations. But, after watching Forensic Files on small hotel TVs for the last 3 weeks I was dying for a good movie. And boy did I get one.
Today, I spent the afternoon live-tweeting my experience of viewing The Host, directed by John Ho Bong. It was an epic (and disjointed) thriller where a father would stop at nothing to save his little girl from the grips of a mutated monster.
However, the disconnect between the government and the people was the most shocking part of the film. As I live-tweeted, I found that my memes slowly turned into political observations. The misinformation used by the government (SPOILER I mean – there was no virus?!?!?!) to control the perception of the chaos that erupted was somehow more horrifying than the giant mutated fish that was eating people. I mean, it had more regard for human life than those in power did and that’s saying a lot.
For most of my life, I have admired and closely studied film and special effects. Because of this, I have a habit of critiquing a film, rather than watch it. But, The Host really drew me in and I genuinely enjoyed it. I truly appreciated the effort it would have taken to keep the monster on screen using CGI for as long as it appeared. The version I viewed was dubbed in English, so the voice acting was not great but it really helped me understand the plot and dialogue.
Culturally, I am emersed wholly in Western entertainment and ideals. My whole life I have lived in Australia, which takes much of its cultural influences from the United States – especially in the entertainment industry. However, one of my father’s favourite past times was to surf the movie channels, and many times we would find ourselves on the World Movies channel, watching a foreign film. One of my favourites to come from this tradition is Om Shanti Om, a film I still regularly watch.
In this way, I am accustomed to the differences between the films in my popular culture and those such as The Host. Although this was a horror film, there was still an element of comedy / physical humour which is not often seen in American style horrors. The goofiness of the characters makes them equally frustrating and loveable, and it reminds us that they are only human. This is something that is often missed in the brooding action heroes that we see in many Western films.
Watching The Host was refreshing, and it has me excited to watch more films like it.