The Host

Bong’s supreme skill as a filmmaker is using different and often disparate genres to create a cohesive and compelling whole. The Host is effectively precisely because of this directorial adroitness: the comedic scenes seem out of place, and yet they make the family of the film more average, more human; in this way, the viewer roots all the harder for them when they encounter the extraordinary and especially when the odds seem at their most dire. The comedy in The Host is also fantastic because it subverts the traditional tropes/scenes associated with films of its nature, such as the grieving family at the funeral or the bonding moment through adversity.

The Host hits hard in its subtext: there are class messages sprinkled throughout the film for the keen-eyed, and for those who only want to enjoy a satisfying thriller, its finale will sate those appetites. Watching it during the time of a pandemic made the film carry an added weight – if only we can all be as brave as the park family, from its oldest to its youngest members.

Final note, the scene at the sidewalk was hilarious and also horrifying with Covid running rampant – I will see that image in my head every time I’m trying to scoot through the grocery store.