Born September 14th, 1969, Bong Joon-ho, the son of a graphic designer and grandchild of noted South Korean author, Park Taewon knew as early as middle school that he wanted nothing more than to become a filmmaker. The disagreement of his parents led to a compromise of sorts when he oped to major in sociology while attending Yonsei University, where he continued to be enamored with the medium. It didn’t take terribly long before passion won over the approval of family, and his entry into the Korean Academy of film arts where he completed a two-year program. where immediately following led to his work on a series of shorts that garnered screenings as far as Vancouver to acclaim.
But it was his feature debut of Barking Dogs Never Bite, where viewers and insiders found his unique, off kilter, yet refreshingly honest voice resonating just as South Korean cinema was aggressively becoming home to a slew of soon to be globally beloved storytellers. With the financial reputation of a studio hanging in the balance, Bong was then slated to helm an adaptation of a just recently popular stage play centered on the country’s first (and to that point unsolved) serial killer case in an era where law enforcement was without the now expected forensics infrastructure, often driving already overburdened offers over the edge with each ensuing crime. Memories of Murder(2003) became not only a box office success, it instantly became emblematic of the wave of films that seemed neverending during the first half of the 00s. A film that not only elevated the name of Bong to the big time, but further cemented the place of quirky lead, Song Kang-ho as an iconic face to the director’s surprisingly borderline radical worldview.
Needless to say, that before the PARASITES, OKJAS, and even SNOWPIERCERS of the world, director Bong, had one more thing to prove before becoming known as that rare carte blanc voice, that he could take the kernel of the Japanese kaiju, and give it a nasty spin with all the assured vision of JAWS. What the world got, was a blockbuster unlike any other.
Gwoemul, aka The Host, tells the tale of South Korea’s often dismissed and underseen as it is forced to confront something bigger (and scarier) than a mere elephant in the room; decades of colonial neglect, not to mention environmental neglect at the hands of the United States military, as borne from their pride and sloth, comes a monster that has not only wreaked havoc upon numerous Han River residents and onlookers, but has taken the youngest of the often frazzled Park family. Legacies of a South Korea one generation removed from a hellish development period, their comic dysfunctionality often countered by their obvious closeness even as the children have grown in uniquely separate directions.
Being forced to face the the foggy mire and immediacy of their plight, as their fellow countrypeople find themselves scrambling to uphold the western military’s narrative of what haunts the river that divides north from south, the Parks find themselves at the center of something far beyond their knowledge or control.
One part spin on the Japanese Kaiju genre, another part acidic satire of the SARS generation, not to mention a pointed examination of a nation’s relationship with its occupiers, The Host is also a window into generations of South Koreans as passionate pro-democracy activists, as well as adherents to a life under the boot heel, often relegated to survival via acts of thievery known as Seo-ri
Along for Bong’s monster magnum opus are Byun-hee bong as the dad, Park Hae-il as the once radical activist, now jobless son, Wachowski darling, Doona- bae, as the expert archer yet hopelessly slow sister, Kang-ho who’s central lead is as unorthodox a hero as one might imagine, and Go Ah-sung, who for the first time would play his daughter (The pair also feature prominently as family in Snowpiercer as well).
With or without taking in the film’s often furious political text, its wholly unconventional take on a beloved genre is unmistakably Bong Joon-ho.
So leave your expectations at the door, The Host will undoubtedly have its way with them.
Saturday, November 23rd 2019
Gathering: 6pm
Film: 7pm
Discussion: Roughly 9pm. (Podcast recording: Optional)
