Game Changer

Bong Joon-Ho’s brilliant genre mash-up Parasite makes Oscars history

- K AUSTIN COLLINS

The fever started in May last year at Cannes. It’s not exactly the case that Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite, the first film from South Korea to win the Palme d’Or, was a surprise winner. But the win was nevertheless a healthy shock to the system. It was a nicely stacked competition full of worthy contenders, some with big names, some with big backstories, all of it enough to drum up more than the usual low-lying suspense. A star-studded, nostalgic epic from former Palme winner Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time In Hollywood). A complexly passionate meta-autobiography from Pedro Almodóvar (Pain and Glory). The first film by a black woman in the festival’s main competition (Atlantics), and an 18th-century love story between two women – Portrait of a Lady on Fire – that was an early critic favourite.

But the history-making jury, led by Alejandro G Iñárritu, chose Parasite. In the intervening months, audiences have too. The film topped $50 million in South Korea by June, after having the biggest opening weekend of any Palme winner in 25 years. In September, there were sold-out screenings at Telluride and the Toronto International Film Festival, and rapturous welcomes at Fantastic Fest and the New York Film Festival. By November, the movie was already sitting atop a $107 million take worldwide.