Chances are you now know whoBong Joon-hois. But long before his history-making Academy Award wins (including a Best Director, Best Picture and Best Foreign Feature award), he was already one of the most exciting, talented filmmakers on the planet. This isn’t hyperbole, either; getting to watch each one of his films felt like the act of uncovering some delicate treasure, one full of life, character, intricate detail, and style.
He’s only made a handful of films, but they’re all unforgettable (making a list of “best” to “worst” doesn’t quite work because they’re all pretty peerless), as he’s worked over a small set of thematic and narrative obsessions (the class divide, treatment of animals, sanctity of translation, and importance of family – in all of its forms), each time uncovering some elemental truth in the most dazzling, inventive way possible. And what’s worse, he always makes itlook easy.
Most of the filmmaker’s movies are available, either digitally or on disc, and bothParasiteandMemories of Murderwill begetting the deluxe Criterion treatmentlater this year (considering their recent editions ofMarriage StoryandRoma, maybeOkjawill be coming too?) Also,Antarctic ExpeditionandSea Fog, two films that he co-wrote but didn’t direct (he also producedSea Fog) are readily available and very much worth your time. Just do it
8. Tokyo! (“Shaking Tokyo”) (2008)
Technically Joon-ho only directed a third ofTokyo, one of the countless omnibus films centered around a metropolitan city (what wasthatabout), but the movie played in theaters (I saw it there!) and is actually available to purchase (on Amazon Prime). Also, his section (entitled “Shaking Tokyo”) is totally amazing and easily the best of the three sections (which is something considering the other two are authored byMichel GondryandLeos Carax). Centering on the Japanese phenomenon of “hikikomori,” in which young adults become complete shut-ins (something we can all relate to right now), it’s a contemplative love story between one of these shut-ins (played, wonderfully, byTeruyuki Kagawa) and the pizza deliver girl he falls in love with (Yū Aoi), who also falls into the seductive trap of isolation. And it’s all against the backdrop of a series of earthquakes. “Shaking Tokyo” is as beautiful and poignant as anything Joon-ho has ever directed, complete with his stylistic filigrees and attention to detail (the organized hoarding within the protagonist’s house, how the house is covered with fairy-tale vines, tattoos on the pizza girl’s warm that look like the buttons on a robot). But the relatively brief running time means there’s a lack of social or political commentary. Instead it’s just very sweet. And sometimes that’s perfectly okay. For completists, this is a must see.
7. Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
Joon-ho made his feature directorial debut withBarking Dogs Never Bite, a bleak comedy that he also co-wrote, about a frustrated, dumb-ass out-of-work professor (Lee Sung-jae) who, bothered by the sound of a dog barking in his complex, sets out to kill the offending pooch. (Fair warning: there is a lot of dog murder/abuse in this movie, to the point that the “no animals were harmed” disclaimer plays before the movie even starts.) Of course, the dog he disposes of (or tries to at least, without giving anything away) isn’t the right dog and on and on it goes. Much smaller scale (it takes place almost entirely within an apartment complex) and more outwardly comedic than his other films,Barking Dogs Never Biteis still spellbinding. It’s amazing to see a filmmaker so fully formed right out of the gate, with a number of his hallmarks – the tightly controlled camerawork (particularly in a sequence where the building’s super, played by the brilliant Joon-ho regularByun Hee-bong, is telling a story while the professor hides in a cabinet nearby), multilayered storytelling and sly social commentary (particularly when it comes to animal rights and the South Korean custom of eating dogs) – all things that he would return to, again and again, in the years since.Barking Dogs Never Bitealso features an early, utterly charming performance fromBae Doonaif you needed another reason to watch.
6. Snowpiercer (2013)
WithSnowpiercer, Bong went big. Budgeted at $40 million (it’s still the most expensive Korean movie ever), it was based on a high-concept French comic book byJacques Loband featured a major, starry cast that includesChris Evans,Tilda Swinton,Octavia Spencer,John Hurtand, of course,Song Kang-ho. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where an attempt to control climate change has led to a new ice age and all of humanity is crammed onto a single, relentless train,Snowpiercerclearly offered entirely new challenges, since he was now working with an international cast and crew (the screenplay was co-written by American writerKelly Masterson) and a much more commercially-oriented approach. But it’s still a Bong Joon-ho movie, through and through. Consider how the camera only moves from right to left as our heroes, stuck at the ass-end of the train, march towards the engine or the little reveals and surprises that pop up along the way (don’t eat the protein bars!) or the immaculate, highly inventive production design. After waging war with his stateside distributors (the Weinsteins, ugh) over the length of his cut, the film’s theatrical release was canceled, and it went straight to VOD (when such a thing carried more of a stigma). While the lengthy production process took its toll on Joon-ho, he was rewarded for his efforts:Snowpiercerwas an international hit and the tenth biggest movie in South Koreaeverand a slick American TV remake is currently airing on TNT withDaveed DiggsandJennifer Connolly. This train never stops.
5. The Host (2006)
WhenGodzillawas released in 1954, directorIshirō Hondaused the now iconic monster as a way to dramatize the effects the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on the people and culture of Japan. Similarly, Bong Joon-ho crafted his monster movie,The Host, around an incident that happened in South Korea in 2000 when a mortician, working for the United States military, was ordered to dump a vast amount of harmful chemicals down the drain. InThe Host, those chemicals create a giant, amphibious beast that murders citizens and hangs upside down under a bridge like a bat. (It’s no wonderJ.J. Abramsis said to be a huge fan.) All of Joon-ho’s movies are about families, and the family at the center ofThe Hostis maybe his greatest on-screen family, not just because of the powerhouse actors he employs (including regulars Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, and Bae Doona) but also the way that he sets up each family member with their specific quirk and shortcoming, and then uses that shortcoming to ultimately triumph over the monster. They’re so richly drawn, full of humanity (the scene where they are mourning in the most exaggerated way makes you laugh both because it’s ridiculous and because it’s so shockinglyreal) and strength. So many American monster movies, including the most recent attempts atGodzilla, fail because they don’t invest enough in the human characters.The Hostnever makes that mistake, and the fierceness of its satire (the government plays to unleash “Agent Yellow,” a not-so-subtle dig at the notorious US chemical) and the inventiveness of its set pieces. And the movie’s final resolution still feels shocking and revelatory, something that no western movie would ever attempt.
4. Okja (2017)
Joon-ho has always known how to move the camera, how to get several scenes’ worth of work in a single uninterrupted shot, in a way that rivalsSteven Spielberg. But withOkja, Joon-ho crafted a fable, alternately gentle and brutal, that is Amblin-worthy in its depiction of a relationship between human and non-human characters and in the general wonderment it inspires in the viewer. It’s the kind of movie you just watch, mouth agape, astonished and in love. The somewhat convoluted plot acts as a set-up to a relatively simple story – 10 years ago a nefarious company called Mirando discovered a rare “super pig” and put them in the hands of various farmers around the world. Now, they’re checking on their creations and inviting the very best pig to be showcased in New York City. The problem is that the very best pig, Okja, has formed a tight-knit bond with a young Korean girl named Mija (an amazingAhn Seo-hyun), who lives in the countryside with her grandfather (Byun Hee-bong back again). The corporation looking to reclaim Okja sets off a truly surprising series of events, from an extended car chase that ends up in an underground Korean mall (and is partially set toJohn Denver’s “Annie’s Song”) to a suburban slaughterhouse to the streets of New York City. The saga is told breathlessly and with so much imagination and heart, that even when things get dark (and they getreally dark), you know there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. The early sequences of Mija and Okja resemble a live-actionHayao Miyazakifantasy, and later sequences, set in the industrialized world, have true grit. Joon-ho is again working with an international cast, including Swinton,Jake Gyllenhaal,Giancarlo Esposito,Steven YeunandPaul Dano. Dano and Yeun, especially, give beautiful performances as a pair of militant animal rights activitists (identifying themselves as part of ALF, a real-life organization) and Gyllenhaal is more off-the-wall than you’ve ever seen him, particularly in a scene where he first meets Okja.Okjais a wonder, and since it’s a Netflix film, one that you can revisit, again and again.
3. Mother (2009)
Mothermight be Bong Joon-ho’s least appreciated and most underseen film, which is a shame because it isincredible. The set-up forMotheris simple: in a lonely village an unnamed widow (Kim Hye-ja) lives as an herbalist with her teenage son Yoon Do-joon (Won Bin), who has some developmental problems and hangs out with a low level criminal named Jin-tae (Jin Goo). One day, a local girl is murdered and the police pin it on Yoon Do-joon. With the case looking open-and-shut and lawyers unresponsive to her pleas, the mother takes it upon herself to clear her son’s name. If “whodunnit where the detective is an elderly Korean woman” wasn’t on your weekend to-watch list, please rectify that now. The script for Mother, co-authored withPark Eun-kyois pitch perfect; there isn’t a wasted line or piece of evidence that isn’t circled back on later. And this is his only feature with extensive flashbacks (his movies are so propulsive they can only take place in thenow), and the way he weaves those flashbacks, half-memories, and things best left forgotten into the forward-moving narrative is really inspiring. And this isn’t merely a genre exercise; all of Joon-ho’s obsessions with the divide between rich and poor, plus the differences between rural and urban investigations, are on display here, along with some provocative notions about what makes a family (get ready for some heavily implied incest!) and the nature of guilt, forgiveness and acceptance, wrapped inside an outrageously thrilling yarn. Deeply felt and ingeniously told,Motheris more than a mystery, it’s a rumination on age and the marginalized people’s fight for justice. And if you’ve never seen it before, brace yourself, becauseMotherpacks a wallop.
2. Parasite (2019)
The movie that made Bong Joon-ho a household name. And for good reason. Winner of the Palme d’Or, Best Picture Oscar, Best Foreign Feature Oscar, and Best Director Oscar,Parasitewas universally beloved and puzzled over, a movie that Joon-ho thought was too esoterically regional but wound up getting widespread, unanimous praise. (It is also the highest-grossing film in South Korean history, taking back his crown that he established a few years earlier withThe Host.) Keep in mind that beforeParasite, no South Korean film had ever even been nominated in the Best Foreign Feature category. Talk about blowing the doors off of something.Parasiteis Bong Joon-ho’s upstairs/downstairs/sub-basement tale, the story of a down-on-their-luck family who infiltrates a well-to-do family’s home, with disastrous results. Of course, this being a Bong movie, there are bursts of explosive violence, threads of dark comedy, and far-reaching sociopolitical connotations, with the relationship between (spoiler alert) a man lurking in an unseen basement, worshipping a man he never actually sees, acting as a metaphor for North Korea and the relationship between North and South Korea. In a wayParasiteis both Bong Joon-ho’s most intimate movie, taking place largely in a single, starkly modern home (actually a series of sets, enhanced with CGI) and his most far-reaching, thematically. Even the name,Parasite, is left up for debate – is the poor family the parasite? Is it the rich family? Is it, on a larger scale, Capitalism? And what of the connection betweenParasiteandThe Host? Clearly there’s something there. Is it about the monsters born out of the industrialized system? And what is there that can be done about it?Parasiteis a movie with influences as disparate as classic 1960 Korean filmThe Housemaidand aBeastie Boysmusic video where everyone pees on each other (that slow-motion urine!), that somehow all works together. It’s the work of a master storyteller working at the top of his game. It’s a new classic.
1. Memories of Murder (2003)
What sophomore slump? For his second film, Bong Joon-ho decided to adapt a stage play (byKim Kwang-rim), teaming withShim Sung-boto dramatize the story of one of South Korea’s first known serial killers (he murdered at least 10 women between 1986 and 1991). Memories of Murder is so brilliant because the killings took place in rural farm country, and the copes in the area (led by a detective played by Bong regular Song Kang-ho) were untrained for that kind of situation and technologically ill-equipped (this being the late 1980s). It’s very much a keystone cop situation, and the director is able to milk some gallows humor from just how underprepared they all were. (Stumbling down a hill while trying to reach a crime scene is one of the situations.) This led the local police to seek help from a hotshot Seoul detective (Kim Sang-kyung), who is as frustrated by the jurisdictional shortcomings as he is the lack of evidence or viable suspects. (Evidence couldn’t even be properly processed and in the film they send it to America; in the actual case it was sent to Japan.) Joon-ho, with only one film under his belt, masterfully balances wildly different tones and aesthetics; there is broad comedy nestled right alongside some truly terrifying sequences (each time one of the girls is murdered, he stages and shoots it in the scariest way possible). And, miraculously, he never loses sight of the humanity – the victims are real people, as are the detectives doggedly trying to capture the man responsible. And, spoiler alert, they never capture the man responsible (he was actually just captured, thanks to DNA evidence, and confessed to even more murders than were originally pinned on him), and that haunting longing is conveyed in the very last shot, one of the all-time best looks into camera. Bong Joon-ho has long citedDavid Fincheras a major influence but it’s easy to see howMemories of Murderinformed Fincher’s masterpieceZodiac, which similarly dramatized the frustration of a fruitless murder investigation. Master storytellers, in dialogue with one another, across continents and language barriers. Is there anything better?
