If You Loved 'Parasite' These Movies by Bong Joon-ho Are a Must-Watch

Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasite recently made history as the first foreign language film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The movie also won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Film. With its wins, Parasite became the first South Korean movie to win Best Picture and Best International Film.

As fans of Parasite practice social distancing and quarantine due to coronavirus (COVID-19), there are a number of stellar movies directed by Bong that they can watch.

Bong Joon-ho directed ‘Snowpiercer’

Snowpiercer is a 2013 action movie directed by Bong. It stars Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Octavia Spencer, Go Ah-sung, John Hurt, Ed Harris, Tilda Swinton, and Jamie Bell. Evans is known for his work as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and fans of Parasite will recognize Song who played Kim Ki-taek in the film.

About Bong’s directing, Evans told Collider, “I wouldn’t have done the movie if I didn’t have confidence in Bong finding deeper layers than just, some sort of interpretation of a graphic novel. That’s what Bong is phenomenal at, in all of his movies, there is always a lot more than meets the eye. So you try to trust that Bong has a lot more intention that just what’s on the surface.” 

The movie marked Bong’s English-language directorial debut, and tackles issues like climate change and classism. Snowpiercer achieved critical acclaim and has a critic score of 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s currently available to stream on Netflix.

‘Okja’ is available on Netflix

Bong’s 2017 action-adventure film Okja is another film of his that is available for fans to stream on Netflix. The movie stars Ahn Seo-hyun, Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Byun Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Giancarlo Esposito, and Parasite‘s Choi Woo-shik.

Okja follows a young girl played by Ahn who raises a genetically modified superpig named Okja. She goes through great lengths to protect Okja when others look to profit off the superpig. The film received positive reviews and currently has a critic score of 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The critic consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads:

“Okja sees Bong Joon-ho continuing to create defiantly eclectic entertainment — and still hitting more than enough of his narrative targets in the midst of a tricky tonal juggling act.”

Bong Joon-ho’s movie ‘The Host’ achieved commercial success

Bong made his directorial debut with the 2000 film Barking Dogs Never Bite. He then directed the 2003 film Memories of Murder which earned critical acclaim and marked Bong’s first collaboration with Song.

Bong’s 2006 film The Host also stars Song and it was highly anticipated. At the time, it was the highest-grossing South Korean film of all time after its run in theaters concluded. The movie follows Song’s character Park Gang-du as he tries to rescue his daughter Hyun-seo after she is kidnapped by a giant creature.

After directing The Host, Bong directed the 2009 film Mother, another film that received widespread critical acclaim.

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