Cannes. Gue Mool.

"Best known for his remarkably grim police procedural Memories of Murder (widely considered one of the finest films commercially released in the US last year), Bong [Joon-ho] here demonstrates a facility for virtuosic mayhem to rival Spielberg's; despite special effects that were state-of-the-art around 1993, the first appearance of the monster ranks among the most thrilling and imaginative action sequences in recent memory," writes Mike D'Angelo at Nerve. "I can only hope to see a Competition entry this impressive."

Variety's Derek Elley on the Directors' Fortnight entry: "On almost every level, there's never quite been a monster movie like The Host. Egregiously subverting its own genre while still delivering shocks at a pure genre level, and marbled with straight-faced character humor that constantly throws the viewer off balance, much-hyped big-budgeter about a huge mutant tadpole that emerges from Seoul's Han River is a bold gamble that looks headed to instant cult status."

Updated through 5/27.

Grady Hendrix has been hearing good things as well.

Update, 5/23: "[T]he best film I've seen to date at this year's festival," declares Manohla Dargis in the New York Times.

Updates, 5/25: Magnolia Pictures has picked up English language rights, report indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez.

Matt Dentler: "I dunno if it will be my favorite film of the festival overall, but it's certainly the most entertaining one I've seen here."

Update, 5/26: Mike D'Angelo's found an amazing poster.

Update, 5/27: Mark Russell profiles Bong in the NYT: "Next up, he said, will be a small film, about a 'very destructive story between a mother and a son,' followed by a return to the special effects in a story based of a French comic book, but probably nothing more extreme than that."

Posted by dwhudson at May 22, 2006 1:52 PM