Gwoemul (The Host)

I am a huge fan of three-dimensional characters. In general, they will make any movie watchable and they can make a great movie sublime. I instantly loved the family which is at the center of this intense and hilarious monster movie. In a letter to Landmark's Film-Club members, Bong Joon-ho, co-writer and director of The Host writes:

...how important it is to balance the appearance of a monster with lovable, empathetic characters. For this, I devised a very “typically” Korean family who are by turns funny, inept, and heroic—like anyone’s family....The film shows how these exceedingly normal people, no different from our everyday neighbors, are transformed into monster-fighting warriors.

While the action was fun and the sub-text politically savvy, what I liked most about this movie were the moments of humor, sometimes slapstick, but also at times, brilliantly subtle. It comes back the characters who make that possible.

I also need to mention the monster, who, through fantastic special effects, is superbly executed and terrifying.