Check out some of the other brilliant movies directed by the Oscar-winning director
Written by Aqil Nasri
By now, you might have heard about a not-so-little movie called Parasite, which, to put it bluntly, has smashed people’s expectations about it. The movie has won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes Award, and recently, it won four Oscars over at the 92nd Academy Awards, swooping the award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Original Screenplay. To top it all off, director Bong Joon-ho became only the second person behind Walt Disney to scoop four awards in a single night. Talk about overkilling it at the awards.
Bong Joon-ho has transcended into a certified international directorial superstar with Parasite, with people from every corner of the world finally giving him his rightful recognition.
But, did you know that he has other brilliantly directed movies as well? Ones that have already cemented his place a top-notch director. These movies were all well received and garnered wide recognition when they first released, mind you, but to everyone who’s new to Bong’s work, seeing these four movies directed by him might increase your respect for him.
Note that some of these movies might require you to read, ahem, subtitles if you don’t speak Korean.
Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
Bong Joon-ho’s directorial debut came as a dark comedy-drama film, in which its original Korean title is a satirical take on A Dog of Flanders, a European pet story that’s popular in parts of East Asia. Although the film’s title might take some nods of inspiration from others, the film in itself is entirely originally written by Bong Joon-ho.
The main protagonist is an unemployed academic (Lee Sung-Jae) who becomes fixated in silencing a barking dog that keeps on barking at his apartment complex. Meanwhile, Bae Doona, who also acts in one of Bong’s other movies, such as The Host, becomes the person trying to save the animals. Fans can clearly see the same thematic tales that Bong Joon-ho has applied to his current projects, such as poking fun at the elite and exposing the circle of unlawful actions that public officials do when people aren’t looking.
Memories of Murder (2003)
Probably one of my favourite movies directed by Bong Joon-ho, this is an absolute thrill from start to finish. Based on a spine-chillingly true story of Korea’s first serial murders in history in which the murder cases still have not been solved by officials to this day, the crime drama shares spiritual similarities to the 2007 movie Zodiac, directed by David Fincher.
Memories of Murder is a story about the search for a serial killer, and as time goes on, it seems to focus more on the mental states of the men in charge as the investigation goes on longer then they thought and on how they’re supposed to cope with dwindling resources. The detective pair – starring Bong’s swansong actor Song Kang-ho as Detective Park and Kim Sang-Kyung as Detective Seo, seems to be from opposite worlds at the start but manages to become really close by the end of the movie.
The gruesome tragedy that happens in the film begins as a story of a crime and slowly evolves into a tragedy that envelopes both the murderer’s victims and the detectives searching for the killer themselves.
The Host (2006)
Considered as Bong Joon-ho’s breakout movie and the highest-grossing film in South Korea in 2006, this monster movie by him is anything like your typical monster movie. The movie was inspired by an incident that happened in the city in the year 2000 when US Forces civilian employee Albert McFarland had ordered 70 litres of formaldehyde to be dumped in the Han River. The movie puts on a slight twist to the incident by having an enormous sea monster spew out of the wastage that was thrown out into the river.
A scary yet funny movie, the film also raises issues about Korean society, corruption, as well as being a political commentary on the relationship that South Korea has with the United States. In fact, this is one of the first movies to be considered as Anti-American in South Korea.
Mother (2009)
This suspense thriller is considered to be one of Bong’s most personal films, and I would say one of his best as well. Starring Kim Hye-Ja as Mother, who is known for playing mother figures in South Korea for quite a while before her appearance in this film.
Playing a single mother living with her mentally challenged 27-year-old son, she manages to eke out a living by selling herbal medicine and becoming an unlicensed acupuncturist for the womenfolk of the town. After her son was accused of killing a local high school girl, she would do anything to prove his innocence, taking drastic measures in the name of justice.
This movie plays less on humour than Bong’s usual outing, instead, focusing on the bond between mother and son, and how sometimes the truth may be blurred based on the love that you have for that person. The ending of this film is spectacular, one that would leave you wondering for days on end. Give it watch and I’d guarantee that you would hop straight on Reddit in search of more explanation and clues.
