The Host

The Host

Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho's third feature film, The Host, is a monster blockbuster starring Song Kang-ho (Parasite) as Park Gang-du. The film begins with a US military doctor (the late Scott Wilson) ordering his assistant to illegally dump toxic chemicals down a drain that leads to the Han River. Several years later, a mutated monster emerges from the river to wreak havoc on Seoul. When the monster abducts his daughter, Gang-du and his squabbling family band together to rescue her. Equal parts creature feature, dysfunctional family comedy, and political satire, The Host is a monumental work.   

DIRECTOR: Bong Joon-ho. WRITTEN BY: Bong Joon-ho, Ha Won-jun, BaekChul-hyun. CAST: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona. 2006. 120 min. South Korea. Color. Korean. Rated R. 35mm. 
This program is made possible in part by a grant from the Korea Foundation.
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
Donors to the Academy Museum’s fund in support of Asian American Pacific Islander programming include Esther S. M. Chui-Chao, Julia and Ken Gouw, and Dr. Peter Lam Kin Ngok of Media Asia Group Holdings Limited.

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