Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mack4289]

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2873821

"The Korean monster flick �The Host� walked off with four grand awards at the debut of the Asian Film Festival in Hong Kong last week.
�The Host� picked up best picture, best actor, best cinematographer and best visual effects awards. The film�s leading man, Song Kang-ho, was named best actor.
�[The film is] not only about anti-Americanism but about problems in Korea, for example asking the police for help but not receiving any,� said executive producer Choi Yong-bae, who accepted the white marble and metal statuette for best film.

....In the two weeks since its Chinese release on March 8, it topped the box office there, reeling in $1.2 million, according to its producer, Cheongeorahm. It now has the longest No. 1 streak in China for a South Korean movie. The movie tells the story of an ordinary family whose life is turned upside down when a giant, tadpole-like monster ― the result of toxic fluid the U.S. military dumped in the Han River ― snatches their daughter away."

I haven't seen the movie, but for anyone who has, would you expect it to be the best Asia has to offer? Or would you think this is like "Fahrenheit 9/11" winning awards in France, where the message is more important than the film?

[happeningthang]

I've never trusted award ceremonies with selecting the "best" or even "good" movies. I don't know what criteria these people do use, but considering producers and studios run "campaigns" in the search of awards and added box office, I suspect it's more about movie biz politics -the paying of debts, incurring them and mutual back scratching.

Didactic and pretentious crap like Philadelphia, Crash and Babel winning at the Oscars. Pedro Amoldavar winning his Best Director award at Cannes for the worst film he ever made, All About My Mother, for examples.

I have seen The Host, and I doubt strongly that this is the best movie Asia has produced in 2006. It's a good, B-grade monster flick, pretty well executed and entertaining. Still, not enough for me to consider it great.

I think the anti-Americanism evident in the movie is deep in the sub-plot when the bulk of the movie deals with the family with the missing girl. It's backdrop setting, while Michael Moore's efforts put American criticism centre stage. There's no comparison between the two movies in those terms, and no relation to be seen in their relative successes.