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The Host, Fri November 17
2006, 9:30

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The Host shows at IFS on Fri November 17, 2006, 9:30

The Host

Fri November 17
2006, 9:30

It’s not often that the Cannes Festival du Film opens its arms to films about enormous mutant tadpoles. Bong's The Host, however, is anything but the typical monster mash. Already breaking all speed records for achieving cult status, the film is months away from its American release yet already has become a legend here and in South Korea where it broke the national box office records in under a month. SDFF tributee Scott Wilson plays an American military officer who sets off a terrifying chain of events. The film is filled with terrific action (effects were done by Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop, the famed California FX house The Orphanage and the Creature Workshop whose credits include the Babe movies). Bong also provides plenty of human drama. After an early beast-on-the-loose scene that’s been favorably compared to the opening in Steven Spielberg’s The War of the Worlds, we follow as a street vendor (Song Kang-ho, last seen in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) and his family (conveniently including an archery champion) do everything they can to rescue a daughter who was snatched by the beast. There’s some sly post-9/11 political commentary, plenty of slapstick laughs and, of course, the slimy monster. To give too much away would spoil the fun, but suffice to say that The Host simultaneously spoofs the monster-movie genre and takes it to a new level of creepy, insane and truly chilling fun. Bong has quickly developed a reputation as one of Asia’s directors to watch — his first films Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) and Memories of a Murder (2003) were both critical favorites — and he’s already working on a big-budget international co-production based on a French comic book. But, no matter what happens next, Bong has inserted himself into film history with this genre classic.

To see a trailer and read a review, visit InternationalFilmSeries.com.

Tickets

10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission. $7 w/UCB student ID, $7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus

International Film Series

(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

C.U. Film Program

(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

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