- Joined
- Feb 8, 1999
- Messages
- 18,397
- Real Name
- Robert Harris
It isn't often that after viewing a film, I'm unsure what it's about.
This is the case with The Host, a Korean film about a creature lurking in and around the Han River, ostensibly the creation of purposefully dumped toxins.
That's the easy part. I'm reminded of the many sci-fi thrillers produced during the early to mid-1950s, which mix nuclear energy and creatures to produce really angry, super-huge creatures.
If I have a personal favorite, it's probably Them! (1954), available on Warner DVD. I saw this film as a child in Miami Beach, and I still recall walking back to the hotel with cousins, when from behind a large building came the precise sound make by the creatures in the film. We arrived back at the hotel quickly.
But I'm not certain that this is what the film is about.
The filmmaker, Bong Joon-ho has placed a number of American characters in the film, inclusive of a gentleman in the opening who demands that his Korean underling dump what appear to be at least dozens of bottles of chemicals down a laboratory drain, even when warned that the drain goes into the Han.
Americans also appear to be giving technical and medical support to the Koreans, and everything that they do is wrong, ending in death, disease and destruction.
Is the film anti-American?
I'm not sure, but it may well be.
Then there is the concept of family. In The Host, the daughter is taken by the creature, and the family endures the disbelief of Korean authorities as well as medical experimentation brought on by the Americans, before they can finally come together again with the little girl.
With the exception of confusion as to what I viewed, the physical image and audio were both of superb quality, with audio pumping, perfectly placed, through my surround system.
As far as the audio is concerned, the disc defaults to the English dubbed version, which did little to support the film, which seems to play much better with it's original language and English subtitles.
Possibly because of my confusion, the film seemed exceedingly long at 115 minutes.
I had yet another problem while viewing the film, simply because it was Korean. While Koreans are a wonderful people, their government supports piracy, and does little to help in not only stopping, but even slowing the rampant piracy of DVD and other goods from America and other countries.
This is a huge problem for me, because government agencies in Korea, such as those that rate films and permit them to be distributed seem to be set up to protect the pirates, while being of no help whatsoever to owners of copyright.
Having attempted to deal with the Korean government on copyright violation issues, and having gotten absolutely nowhere, with not even the courtesy of a response, I have a problem with Korean films being used to send American dollars back to the mother ship of pirates in Korea.
Magnolia has done a beautiful job bringing this film to Blu-Ray, and I look forward to more of their releases in the future. The political issues have nothing to do with Magnolia, which I wish well with their beautiful release, but at least at present, Korean films come with heavy political baggage.
RAH
This is the case with The Host, a Korean film about a creature lurking in and around the Han River, ostensibly the creation of purposefully dumped toxins.
That's the easy part. I'm reminded of the many sci-fi thrillers produced during the early to mid-1950s, which mix nuclear energy and creatures to produce really angry, super-huge creatures.
If I have a personal favorite, it's probably Them! (1954), available on Warner DVD. I saw this film as a child in Miami Beach, and I still recall walking back to the hotel with cousins, when from behind a large building came the precise sound make by the creatures in the film. We arrived back at the hotel quickly.
But I'm not certain that this is what the film is about.
The filmmaker, Bong Joon-ho has placed a number of American characters in the film, inclusive of a gentleman in the opening who demands that his Korean underling dump what appear to be at least dozens of bottles of chemicals down a laboratory drain, even when warned that the drain goes into the Han.
Americans also appear to be giving technical and medical support to the Koreans, and everything that they do is wrong, ending in death, disease and destruction.
Is the film anti-American?
I'm not sure, but it may well be.
Then there is the concept of family. In The Host, the daughter is taken by the creature, and the family endures the disbelief of Korean authorities as well as medical experimentation brought on by the Americans, before they can finally come together again with the little girl.
With the exception of confusion as to what I viewed, the physical image and audio were both of superb quality, with audio pumping, perfectly placed, through my surround system.
As far as the audio is concerned, the disc defaults to the English dubbed version, which did little to support the film, which seems to play much better with it's original language and English subtitles.
Possibly because of my confusion, the film seemed exceedingly long at 115 minutes.
I had yet another problem while viewing the film, simply because it was Korean. While Koreans are a wonderful people, their government supports piracy, and does little to help in not only stopping, but even slowing the rampant piracy of DVD and other goods from America and other countries.
This is a huge problem for me, because government agencies in Korea, such as those that rate films and permit them to be distributed seem to be set up to protect the pirates, while being of no help whatsoever to owners of copyright.
Having attempted to deal with the Korean government on copyright violation issues, and having gotten absolutely nowhere, with not even the courtesy of a response, I have a problem with Korean films being used to send American dollars back to the mother ship of pirates in Korea.
Magnolia has done a beautiful job bringing this film to Blu-Ray, and I look forward to more of their releases in the future. The political issues have nothing to do with Magnolia, which I wish well with their beautiful release, but at least at present, Korean films come with heavy political baggage.
RAH
