The Host (2006)

Qui est le monstre ? La créature ou le système ?

The Host fête ses vingt ans cette année, et s'il a pris quelques rides, elles lui vont si bien qu'il continue de faire illusion, partagé entre critique sociale, drame familial et film de monstre.

La créature est magnifique, malgré l'aspect daté de ses effets numériques. Grande amatrice de films de monstres, je regrette toujours l'abandon des animatroniques au profit du numérique, tout en comprenant ce choix. Cela ne m'empêche pas d'apprécier les œuvres récentes. Quoiqu'il en soit, la créature convainc par sa mutation cohérente et son aspect dérangeant.

On pointe souvent du doigt les films de monstres comme des œuvres de seconde zone. Certes, il existe de sacrés navets dans le genre, mais aussi des films qui vont plus loin qu'une grosse bestiole repoussante qui boulotte tout sur son passage. Les films de monstres peuvent être une riche source de réflexion sur la nature humaine, sur l'Homme en général et, comme ici, une satire, notamment sur la colonisation des États-Unis et l'incompétence du système politique sud-coréen, car influencé.

Je ne mets pas ce film sur un piédestal, simplement parce qu'à mes yeux Bong Joon Ho n'a pas révolutionné le film de monstre comme on aime le dire. En effet, c'est un très bon film, mais il reste conventionnel avec des personnages imparfaits, des systèmes défaillants et la bêtise humaine. Des éléments que l'on retrouve dans les films de monstres en général, et bien avant 2006 : les Dents de la mer (1975), Alien (1979), The Thing (1982), Le Blob (1988) ou encore Mars Attacks! (1996).

En bref, The Host est un film de monstre sous couvert d'une critique peut-être plus anti-américaine qu'on ne le pense, et qui s'équilibre parfaitement entre son drame, son humour, son suspense et son horreur.

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HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING THIS MOVIE.
This movie is a masterpiece by the talented director Bong Joon-ho. The genre for this movie is a horror but this does not mean that it obeys every convention of a 'normal' horror movie.

Bong uses The Host to address the political relationship between America and South Korea. This movie is often seen as a very anti-America film BUT this is not what Bong intended. Bong does not paint the South Korean people featured within the film well either.

Bong addresses the issue of heroism in America; he addresses the Korean people's attachment to cellphones and technology; he addresses political relationships; family relationships; etc etc etc

This movie may NOT seem like a horror movie. It is but then it also is not. It is not a gruesome movie, it does not have much gore, and the moments of tension and anxiousness that the Host will inflict on the viewer is broken will moments of black humor. These inserts of humor is not to get 'cheap laughs' but to distance the viewer from what is being shown on screen. The humor that Bong uses makes the viewer remember that it is just a story, it is a movie and not real, then the viewer can watch and make a judgement on the relationships being shown on screen without leaving the theater jumpy and scared.

The monster within the Host was accidentally created by the American base dumping a toxic chemical into the Han River. This is very significant as a situation like this happened in reality. The American base's morgue dumped hundreds of liters of embalming fluid into the Han river in 2000. The Han river did become toxic because of this. (although some people claim that this is only a myth).
During the Host Bong addresses some of the political issues between South Korea and America that are present in reality.

This movie was so popular in South Korea that 20% of the total population of South Korea, even today, watched The Host at the cinema (this does not include people watching it more than one or home viewings). I highly recommend watching this movie as it is not only an enjoyable storyline but it gives insight into reality.

I live in New Zealand and in my University Cinema Studies course The Host was featured and analyzed. This movie is influential enough to have been recognized in such a small country as New Zealand. I high recommend watching this movie.
Also if you are put off by the genre Horror don't be, this is not a conventional horror movie, to the casual viewer it will seem more to be more like a Thriller than Horror. And if you are put off by my review please don't be. This movie is a great watch on the surface and very enjoyable to the casual viewer.

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