Selected by the Cinematographers Branch

Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho’s third feature film, The Host, is a monster blockbuster starring Song Kang-ho as Park Gang-du, the head of a dysfunctional family.

This animated adaptation of Shirow Masamune’s manga dives into the networked urban landscape of New Port City, Japan. In the year 2029, technological advancements have allowed humans to optimize their bodies, or “shells,” with physical augmentations. Major Motoko Kusanagi, a full-body synthetic female cyborg, is tasked with tracing the Puppet Master, a cybercriminal mastermind suspected of a nefarious hacking job. Extraordinary photorealistic cityscapes realized through cel animation and computer-generated images are enhanced by an enthralling score by Kawai Kenji to shape the story’s dystopia into a gritty realism. Its prescient symbols and themes resonate in later films by James Cameron (The Terminator) and the Wachowskis (The Matrix).