I was kidnapped by The Host!

I was working on last Saturday. AGAIN. Sigh.

Purposely drove all the way to KL just to give an hour lecture to a bunch of hairy baboons with black & golden fur. Sien. Fortunately, this is the last one before Christmas. Unfortunately, there will be many more to cum after New Year. I'm NOT looking forward to it.

After work, I went on a lunch-cum-movie date with Someone in 1U. We had XO Fried Vermicelli (Yummy!!!) in Vietnam Kitchen before we proceeded to watch 'The Host' in new wing.

You can forget about all those mainstream over-rated, over-remake, and over-hyped Hollywood blockbusters which are terrorising our shores. 'The Host' is a must-watch film of the year. It has everything that a Hollywood movie doesn't have:
Subtlety, honesty, and simplicity.

The director is not afraid to poke fun at the Asian mindset that everything 'Western' must be good. The movie carries and conveys a simple yet powerful message:

"How stupid we are to blindly put our faith in others instead of ourselves when we know for a fact that 'the outsiders' are wrong. And knowing that they are wrong, we still choose to believe in them and let them dictate us. That is why the root cause of all our sufferings is really our own makings." - TITOKI

The plot has a little bit of everything in it. The bitter war remnants between the North and South Korea, SARS-like virus, unemployment, Olympics, a dysfunctional family, a murky Han river, and a flying + swimming + walking + human-eating monster that looks like a bat + whale + dinosaur.

The monster was morphed and shaped by Weta. The company who single-handedly made Gollum looks so farking real in LOTRs. There won't be any rubber suit monster running around in the movie like those you see in the Jap productions. This one is one helluva world-class looking creature that will make Jurassic Park's T-Rex shy and buries its head in the sand.

At times 'The Host' makes you sob, laugh, sigh, and wonder at the what-ifs and what-nots. Eventhough the ending is a twist, albeit a good one, but still, I'm loving it.

After the movie, I asked Someone, "How was it?"

Someone replied, "I have a mixed feeling about it. Happy and sad at the same time. The movie reflects us. Our inability to think on our own two feet. But it is so real. Everything. Even the monster."

I smiled. Like mind, like mine. :)

Ed note:
1) My dear friends, go watch it today, you won't regret it.
2) It's a public holiday in the state of Selangor today (Sultan's burpday). So it's a long weekend for me! Hooray Hooray Hooray!!!
3) If I quit blogging, will you miss me?