Bong Joon-ho is the toast of Hollywood – and Korea – after his four wins at the Academy Awards.
The South Korean director and his film Parasite won four Oscars for best director, best international film, best original screenplay and the all-important best picture, becoming the first non-English speaking movie to win the award in the Oscars’ 92 year history.
Parasite – in which a poor family attempt to get jobs with a rich family through deception – has become a phenomenon worldwide, particularly with Western audiences who typically do not flock to the cinemas for subtitled films.
And the awards success of the dark comedy drama has sparked interest in Bong’s previous films.
Here are our top picks from his glittering back catalogue:
Memories of Murder (2003)
This critically acclaimed crime drama marked Bong Joon-ho’s first collaboration with Song Kang-ho, who played Kim Ki-taek in Parasite.
Based on a true story, Memories of Murder follows two detectives – played by Song and Kim Sang-kyung – as they attempt to solve the Hwaseong serial murders, which occurred between 1986 and 1991.
The film was a huge critical success upon its release, with Quentin Tarantino naming it one of his favourite films.
It was also voted the best Korean film of the century, while it counted for 5,101,645 admissions in Korea.
The Host (2006)
One of the top 20 highest grossing Korean films of all time, The Host sees Bong move into monster movies – with great success.
Also starring Song Kang-ho, The Host sees a terrifying monster emerging from the Han River and terrorising the population and kidnapping a man named Park Gang-du’s (Song) young daughter.
After receiving a phone call indicating his daughter is alive, Gang-du attempts to rescue her from the grips of the creature.
What makes this monster movie so brilliant is that the creature is not hidden in the shadows – its first appearance places it right there in the daylight, and that’s somehow even scarier.
Mother (2009)
No, not Mother! starring Jennifer Lawrence.
For fans of dark drama, Mother is bound to thrill. The 2009 movie concerns a woman whose only son is arrested for the murder of a high school girl.
Convinced her son is innocent, Mother sets out to prove that he is not the murderer.
While it doesn’t involve anything supernatural or spooky, Mother could even be scarier as The Host.
Snowpiercer (2013)
Snowpiercer is Bong Joon-ho’s first English language film, with 80% of the action film spoken in English, and boasts his most Western starry cast to date.
Starring Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, Octavia Spencer, Jamie Bell, John Hurt and of course, Song Kang-ho, Snowpiercer is set on a train which carries the world’s population, after an attempt to end global warming results in Earth turning into a snowball.
The train’s passengers are divided into the front and tail, with those in the tail told to ‘keep your place’. That is, until one man decides to lead a revolution against the elite.
For those who loved the class war message of Parasite, Snowpiercer is another clever take on the topic – but with more sci-fi and action.
Okja (2017)
A bit quirkier than his more intense previous offerings, Bong Joon-ho’s first Netflix original movie saw him collaborate with Tilda Swinton again… as well as a genetically modified superpig.
On a world where ‘superpigs’ have been bred as a new source of food, young girl Mija is devastated when her pig Okja is taken away by the Mirando Corporation.
Assisted by the Animal Liberation Front, Mija attempts to rescue Okja and expose the Mirando Corporation for their mistreatment of animals.
Featuring a cast including Swinton- playing two roles – child star Ahn Seo-hyun, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito and Parasite’s Choi Woo-shik, Okja is a fantastical take on adventure and animal rights.
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