Old Reviews: The Host and Mother

Bong Joon-ho on Netflix Instant.

2006's "The Host" is a monster film starring the loveable Song Kang-ho and inspired by actual events. An American military pathologist forces his Korean assistant to dump some formaldehyde into the Han river. This causes some fish of the river to mutate and become a large amphibious monster (I said "inspired," not "based"), which is a host of a deadly virus. What Bong Joon-ho does with the monster genre is really fantastic. This is not a typical blockbuster movie that you'd expect from me labeling it a monster movie. It's highly entertaining, but also very smart and subtly politically charged. Moreover, there's a lot of fantastic humor, which Bong Joon-ho has proven himself to be exceptional at delivering. It's also really cool that Bong Joon-ho doesn't hold back in showing the creature at the very beginning and in broad daylight. This is unlike most films of the sort that only reveal what the monster looks like toward the end (which is kind of annoying, really). Another thing that's really great in this film---which has also become a Bong Joon-ho trademark---is showing the ineptitude of S. Korean government for comedic effect. Be sure to check it out! I know I feel the urge to give it a third or fourth viewing!

2009's "Mother" is my favorite Bong Joon-ho movie. (This will be my third and last "Mother's Day and Movies" related posting. The first is my background photo and the second was yesterday's posting of the "Jeanne Dielman" clip.) A mother who sells herbs and performs acupuncture lives only with her mentally handicapped son. Suddenly a high-school girl is found dead and the mother's son is suspect (well, actually, the police just assume he did it even though there's little evidence and they've barely done any investigating--again, here's the comedic ineptitude of S. Koreans in charge). This greatly upsets the mother and, so, she begins to do some investigating of her own (well, sometimes with the help of her son's only friend). The ending is fantastically sweet and hilarious. Bong Joon-ho is a master. What he did with the monster genre in "The Host" he does here for the crime genre. He makes it his own. I could watch this over and over again. Check it out y'all!