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| Interview With Bong Joon-ho: The Host Of "The Host" |
by Peter Sobczynski
The acclaimed Korean director of "Memories of Murder" sits down to discuss his latest work, the thrilling, hilarious and oddly touching monster epic "The Host."
Having already subverted the serial killer narrative with his haunting 2003 gem “Memories of Murder,” Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho has shifted his focus to monster movies and the result, “The Host,” is one of the best and most entertaining examples of the genre to come along in a long time. In this alternately funny, exciting, angry and strangely moving work, the careless dumping of formaldehyde into Korea’s Han River leads to the creation of a fearsome monster that rises from its depths, terrorizes the countryside and then disappears with sweet little Park Hyun-so, the youngest member of a hilariously dysfunctional family, clutched in one of its tentacles. When the Parks discover that Hyun-so survived the attack and are unable to convince clueless government officials to help them, they band together to break out of quarantine and enter the sewer system in order to save her in what can only be described as “Little Miss Sunshine Vs. The Smog Monster.”
Mixing together slapstick humor, dark political satire, genuine human sentiment and some kick-ass monster movie moves (the opening Han River attack is certain to go down as an instant classic), “The Host” is a wildly entertaining work that pays homage to such genre staples as “Godzilla” while slyly subverting their conventions in unexpected ways and the result is a film that will entertain fanboys as well as those who wouldn’t ordinarily be caught dead watching anything in which the central character looks like the result of a drunken hookup between a rhino and the Alien. Speaking through a translator, Bong (who recently sold the remake rights to the film to Universal) recently sat down to discuss the origins of the film, his views on genre subversion and the joy of slipping political commentary into a monster mash.
What is it that got you interested in filmmaking in the first place?
There wasn’t one event that made me turn and say “Oh, I’m going to be a filmmaker.” Ever since I was young, I have really loved films. I do have a powerful memory of watching “The Wages of Fear” on TV late at night and all alone–I was so glued to the seat that I didn’t go to the bathroom even though I really had to go. After that kind of experience, I realized that you could actually push a person into a corner by creating tension and it taught me what a film could do.
What were the origins of “The Host?”
It came from the space initially. [pointing to the poster] If you look at those apartment buildings, that is where I used to live when I was younger. I could see the Han River from my bedroom and that is where the first ideas for this film originated. I would enjoy thinking and daydreaming about what would happen if something like the Loch Ness Monster came out of it. I kept it to myself because I figured that if I said it out loud, people would say that I was crazy. For twenty-some years, I kept it in my head and it festered until I finally decided that this was the time to make this into a film. I started pursuing it and of course people around me were telling me that I was crazy and that I shouldn’t do it.
In the United States, genre films are primarily thought of as entertainment but one thing that you seem to do with genre is use it as a background to the story that you really want to tell.
When I made “Memories of Murder,” it was a serial killer film but at the same time, it was also an opportunity to do a film that would look back at the 1980's, a time when we were living under a military dictatorship. I say that but I don’t think that either one is more important. Here, I am working in the monster genre but I do also delve into the system vs. the individual or the things that torment the weaker people but again, neither one is more important. I actually really do enjoy the genre and it does get me excited–it isn’t just a means to do something else.
One of the things that is interesting about “The Host” is that while it is a prime example of the monster movie genre, it also subverts the very conventions of the genre at the same time. For example, it is traditional that we never get a good look at the monster for the first hour or so aside from maybe the flash of a claw or a close-up of an eyeball. Here, we are hardly ten minutes into the film when we not only get a full-on glimpse of the creature but an extended sequence in which it wreaks havoc on the banks of the Han River. The scene is incredibly effective on its own but what really makes it memorable is that since it comes so much earlier than expected, it throws the audience off-base early on and keeps them there for the duration.
I really hate the convention that we have to wait an hour just to see the tail of the monster. I hate that kind of conventional tradition and it felt like it was more of a pure thing to break that tradition. The other reason is because the narrative structure, I needed to cut off the curiosity regarding the creature so that the audience could focus on the family and the political satire. Also, when we are hit with a calamity or disaster in real life, we have no preparation–it just happens and it is right in your face. Likewise, I wanted to have that feeling in the film. Like you said, the audience is not prepared to see the creature yet and it hits you in the face like a real disaster. We aren’t prepared for this creature to attack just like we are never prepared for something disastrous to happen to you.
In regards to the political satire, what were your primary motives for injecting that element into the film?
For me, it was part of the tradition of the genre. One of the traditions of the monster/science-fiction genre is to interject political satire–I felt that this was my chance and I was going to stuff it with everything that I wanted to do. Since this story starts off with this actual case where the American military did pour formaldehyde into the Han River, there is a very natural line of satire about America but if you look at the film closely, there is also a lot of satire about Korean society. In the end, everything that was tormenting this family became a target of satire.
This coincides with the main themes of the film and also became the social commentary–why is it that no one is helping this family? That is the sort of big picture that ties everything together. When Korea faces a disaster or a crisis, the government does tend to get a little flustered and the authorities tend to panic. It is almost as if the aftermath is even more ridiculous than the actual disaster. Therefore, people become very individual and begin looking for their own ways out and this affects the comedy as well as the tragedy. They find their own little ways to get out of their problems and they don’t even think about going to the system to resolve their problems.
Although it subverts genre expectations throughout, “The Host” went on to be an enormous hit with viewers in Korea. What has your experience been like in screening the film for audiences and potential distributors here–do you find that those subversions, particularly in the way that the ending plays out, has had a significant effect on viewers in this country or is the reaction pretty much the same?
I am very curious about the same thing. It isn’t like Japan, where they have a history of monster films. This is not only a once-in-a-blue-moon monster film from Korea but one that also happens to break all of the rules. I’ve gotten very good reviews from Japan and France–“Kinema Jumpo” and “Cahiers du Cinema” place it in their top three for last year–but at the same time, the box-office wasn’t so hot. The American distribution company has analyzed that and are going in with a different approach to the film. At the same time, for a Korean film, it has opened in the largest number of countries worldwide and many international distribution companies are interested because they believe in its potential.
It was announced recently that the rights to do an American remake of “The Host” were sold. What is the status of this project and do you plan on having any sort of creative involvement in it?
Last year, Universal bought the rights to remake this film. I don’t foresee any special involvement and I’m sure that Universal will be fine without me. I have a couple of new projects that are keeping me busy. In a few years, maybe it will be like Martin Scorsese’s “The Departed” and it will have been reborn into a creative and cool film.
link directly to this feature at http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/feature.php?feature=2137
originally posted: 03/08/07 09:57:25
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