Gwoemul
October 27, 2009
I saw an interesting Korean movie recently and I thought I’d recommend it. The Host, or Gwoemul in Korean, was a very thought-provoking monster film released in 2006. I remember watching the trailers here in Japan and all it showed was the monster running amongst a crowd of people apparently kicking their asses.
Having watched the movie now, I’ve found it’s filled with a lot of insight into the Korean culture and society. It’s interesting to see the American military and probably Americans in general portrayed as uncaring, cold people. It’s obvious the resentment towards the Americans in this movie.
There seems to be a lot of social commentary on people too. The main characters all had some sort of character flaw that held them back. From being a lazy dumbass, to hesitant athlete, to ever-complaining activist, each character had to get over themselves through the film.
The monster was quite interesting. Compared to other monster flicks, such as ones in Japan and America, this monster seemed like it was more acting on instinct than any real intention to hurt people. It was designed well and the scene where we see the monster running up behind the daughter Hyun-seo was quite cool.
There’s a very wild blend of comedy, drama, action, and horror in this movie. At times I thought this movie was going the road of a parody but only to have something serious happen. The ending was quite unexpected – it did not follow the general formula for these kinds of movies. Because of this, I was pleasantly surprised. Different is always good.
