The Man Who Never Was & The Host

The Man Who Never Was is a film about Operation Mincemeat, the successful plan to convince the Germans that they weren't going to invade Sicily and were going to invade Greece or Sardinia. For some reason, Hitler bought it, maybe because he was frickin' insane. It is a film that I'm surprised I hadn't seen before, although I may have. Movies I used to watch a lot as a youngin tend to blur in my mind, unless I watched them multiple times (thank you The Longest Day and Bedknobs and Broomsticks), so I may have gotten this confused with Code Name: Emerald, a non-true story about trying to rescue/kill someone who knows about D-Day. I vaguely recalled the ending of that film, but I think I put the rest of the plot of this into that. My brain makes little to no sense some times. Back to the film. It's a little film, with little showy acting (except from Gloria Grahame), no showy camera tricks, and a very simple plot: convince the Germans a man who doesn't exist exists. That the film is so simple is the best aspect of the film. It allows the tension to build, and the audience (or at least me, and I assume most others watching) wonders just how the Germans will treat all of this. Of course, the fact that it's based on a true story means that you know how it will end, and the one little twist is fairly clearly telegraphed early on.

The Host is a justly praised monster film from Korea, from the director of the very good Memories of Murder. This film is too long, though, and drags considerably in the middle, along with not being entirely consistent from a time standpoint. It's never clear how long it has been from the beginning of the film to the end. It makes little to no sense as things seem to have taken days and days, while there is no food. This gaping plot hole aside, it's still not nearly as good as it was made out to be. The sense of humor is lacking, as well, and I just got a feeling that the film should have been better. It is, however, full of excellent set pieces, especially the opening attack scene, far more impressive because the monster is never hidden, it's seen full-body in bright daylight. And it is also quite a few metaphors. As in, the monster was created by pollution, the American military, and it's also a big vagina dentata. Well, actually, when you think about it, most monsters out there that eat people are vagina dentata. Men are just generally afraid of that which they don't have. Or, they're afraid of what they might lose. The negatives (of which there are a few) are not enough to detract from the good points, although this doesn't entirely convey that point.