Video

Watch: A Beginner’s Guide to Bong Joon-ho

Words by Will Webb

A young Asian man with short brown hair, wearing a green jacket and looking distressed, standing in a city setting.
A young Asian man with short brown hair, wearing a green jacket and looking distressed, standing in a city setting.
To celebrate the release of Parasite, check out this video primer to South Korea’s finest cinematic export.

A train circles the frozen world at high speed, the remnants of humanity inside. A family hunt the mutated monster who kidnapped their daughter. A young woman befriends a super-pig and goes on a worldwide caper with it.

These are the worlds of Bong Joon-ho, and underneath their at times pulpy genre exteriors lies a morass of complex characters. Beginning his career with a number of box office hits in South Korea, Bong built on his success with two English-language features, Snowpiercer and Okja.

Now he’s returned to his roots with Parasite, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and is the first Korean film to be nominated for an Oscar.

In a new video essay, Will Webb takes a closer look at what makes Bong such a compelling filmmaker. Watch below and let us know your thoughts @LWLies

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