Gwoemul (The Host)

Should I describe The Host as a dramatic nail biting drama, as one dysfunctional family are bought together through a series of tragic events...

No, its a film with a big FRIGGIN MONSTER IN IT!

In recent years, Hollywood has sold short the big rubber monster genre, producing half hearted efforts, which concentrated more on the CGI and shaky cameras than anything else. Thankgod for the Koreans. Here in The Host are all the great elements needed for the genre, and a bit more...

First off, as those of you who attended Rubber Monster Class 101 will know, the best monsters come about either from small children flushing things down the toilets, or government officials dumping toxic chemicals. The creature in the host, is the result of the latter, with an OCD American pathologist telling his assistant to dump a fair-load of formaldehyde down the drain. The Koreans take quite a few swings at the Americans throughout the film, which I believe stems from a real life incident in 2000 where a civilian US Contractor, did dump chemicals into the Han River.

I should also note, that they also take another fair few swings at their own government as well. Which brings us to the black humour in the film, which is delivered in healthy doses throughout. In the absence of anything to compare it to, I think its safe to say has a distinctive Korean touch. - It will make you laugh out loud.

Now onto the star of the show, the Monster. It looks like some sort of prehistoric giant salamander, and according to the director and monster designer, they based it on Steve Buscemi persona in Fargo. One of the things, that stood out for me, was the movement of the monster. It had that old time rubber monster feel. A product I imagine, was a result of the films relative low budget (10 Million USD). Saying that, some of the scenes where it is moving under the bridge is quite smooth, so could it be deliberate design I wonder ? Either way, its a good-un, Far better than anything Hollywood has chucked our way in years.

This film is chock full of memorable scenes ( I don't want to spoil them, so I won't mention any of them here), and if this is what Korean cinema has to offer, let us embrace if fully. Get this film, pour yourself some instant noodles and prepare to be fully entertained for two hours.

Korea, I ask thee; More please!

Official Site
The Host (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) - Amazon Link

Ps. For those of you interested in such things, the cinematography is absolutely top notch, Hyung Goo Kim the DOP has definetly put a stamp on this film.

Ring Of Bright Water

It is funny what you remember, the last time I watched this film before rewatching it on sunday night, was on a television which had a busted RF socket. This was from plugging in and removing the ZX spectrum 128K too much. I had fixed up (with a lot of solder) a crude way of connecting the aerial - which sometimes worked.

Though it had been a long time since I saw the film, it was a film I remembered fondly and for sometime I have been meaning to re-watch it.

The film is based on the life of Gavin Maxwell, who was a scottish naturalist and author who worked with otters. The film stars Bill Travers and Virginia Mckenna, and whilst made in 1969 it hasn't aged badly at all. Indeed, some of the busy London street shots, with the black cabs, could of been shot yesterday.

The main star of the film is Mij the otter,who is bought by Graham Merril(Bill Travers) in a London pet shop. After Mij creates havoc in Graham's London flat, they head (both escaping) to a rustic cottage on the west coast of Scotland.

At the cottage, against a backdrop of fantastic scenery, Graham makes acquaintance with Dr.Mary, and Mij makes acquaintance with Johnny - Dr.Marys Dog. The story then begins to unfold.

I had a quick look at some other reviews for the film before writing this, and a couple mentioned the film suffered from "romanticism" well, pfffffft. No its not a serious documentary, nor is it packed with CGI and action shots. It is a film where we get to watch a delightful (real) Otter for a good hour and a half and enjoy his escapades as both him and his owner, find freedom. If it is indeed an act to indulge such suffering, then you better lock us up with the rest of the romantics.

The scene in the aftermath of the ferocious attempt at capturing a basking shark is probably what I had remembered most originally, and it lost no charm watching again.

The film does have a sad happy ending, but that should not put you off. A great film for a rainy day.

Ring of Bright Water - Amazon Link

Silent Hill The Film

The DVD has been sitting on my shelves for sometime, I have only briefly played a demo of the first video game (long time ago!) and had not heard much about the film and knew little about the franchise. From having watched the Resident Evil films, I was expecting Silent Hill to be a good old rubber monster fest which was what I was in the mood for this Saturday gone.

However, was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a cracking horror story in the film. Yes, its by no means the most original of stories, but sometimes all you need is a small American deserted town that had some over zealous religous nuts who have dammed themselves into purgatory, a good dollop of evil and demonic rules and the nightmare world of a little child. 

Onto the cast, I was surprised to see Sean Bean in this film who had a some what supporting role. The character really doesn't do much but is needed to help fill some gaps for the story - It does make me wonder if there is a longer version of the film in existence. I think Christophe Gans, the director has done a pretty fine job of packing in a lot of story elements into the two hours, but one criticism is, a couple of things feel rushed and have bits been skipped in the edit room I wonder ?

Of the rest of the cast, Jodelle Ferland does a fine act of being a creepy and demonic kid (aren't they all anyway?)  and Radha Mitchell does a fine job of carrying the film as the main protagonist. The real star (except for the monsters) is Laurie Holden as the "kick arse" Motorcycle cop.  This is definitely an actress who deserves more big screen time.

The limelight for the monsters is unashamedly stolen by the evil nurses. The picture does not do them justice, but truth be told I cannot be arsed  to walk over to the shelve, pick up the DVD, put it in my macbook , remind myself how to take screen caps on a mac and then resize it for the blog. Watch the film instead!  They are genuinely creepy and well choreographed as are the rest of the monsters in the film. I did feel that the Pyramid character could of been used a bit more, which again gets me wondering if there is a longer cut.

Someone behind the scenes who most definitely deserves a mention is Carole Spier, the production designer who has done a fantastic job on the film. Watching the making of (which is very good as a making of') she does not at all look like your normal production designer, who (this is from experience I might add) are normally to be found on the cheise lounge along with the art director eating grapes and drinking wine whilst occasionally waving their riding crop to order some beautiful young thing with whimsical instructions (we need a tree) which eventually gets filtered down to the crew - who then do all the work!.  She seems really hands on and passionate, which shows in the design and especially the consistency of within the film. It would be hard to argue that Silent Hil is not a very gorgeous looking film and one that makes you ponder for a second , where you would take it for a date.

All in all, Its not quite a rubber monster movie, nor is it a dark and intense horror.  Instead it has its place on the gentle green park inbetween which you and I  know has been built on an ancient indian burial ground.

Will I be rushing out to watch the sequel next year ? probably not. Will I be keeping an eye out for the sequel in the DVD bargan bin - yes , and if a longer director cut comes out I will be keeping and eye out for that too.

Das Boot

It had easily been about 10 years since I last watched this film and was a real pleasure to rewatch. As there are several versions out there, I should note it was the 3 hour and twenty minute version.

Got off to a bit of a false start when the film started in the english dubbed version, but a quick flick through the menu's and into the German. It is a shame the swearing does not appear in the subtitles, but - and this is the reason I think it is essential you watch it in German, you can't beat a good German screaming Scheiss! when noticing a destroyer.

There are two things which I think make this a cracking film, the first is the crew on the ship is totally believable in their interaction and personalities. It feels like this is a real crew on a real submarine. The second is the feeling of claustrophobia, and there is some real nice attention to detail in the scenes that help achieve this, such as when the officers are crammed in at their table eating, and one of them has to keep getting up to allow other people on the submarine to past through.

Those two factors really mould the film and as the events unfold you find yourself not trying to make any sound when the Captain orders it and holding your breath when the Petty Officer is trying to work out the location of the destroyer.

I felt a bit Jealous of the wife who watched the film with me, as she had no idea of the ending, but was pleased to again experience it after all this time. If you have never watched it, go and watch it - now! if you haven't watched it recently , go and watch it now!