The astonishing films of Parasite director Bong Joon Ho

Bong Joon Ho movies are great. The ambience of the films, his characters, the feelings of anxiety they create — I have never seen anything like them.

Bong Joon Ho films have this similarity to them: a feeling of thrill that never gets dull or overused.  The suspense gives viewers of movies like The Host, Snowpiercer, and Memories Of Murder creates such anxiety that, I wanted to skip certain parts to avoid seeing (or waiting to see) the bad thing that is threatening to happen — and of course it did happen. The feeling is like something is crawling on your back.

The acting of his films is incredible. The director says, “It’s all about finding trustworthy actors.” He avoids speaking to them, so he can encourage the actors to feel at ease while during shooting. This is how the characters have genuine reactions so it feels real.

Parasite, Is one of the best movies I have ever watched. The biggest twist I ever seen, My heart kept racing with anticipation. Nonetheless, the movie was really funny as well. I love how the director made the characters sympathetic and relatable. No one is simply an idiot or a villain. Eventually you get to understand how and why this family of grifters comes to hate a wealthy family, but that wealthy family is not made out to be evil.

They often take a very dark turn instead of a happy ending. Bong’s movies have this point in the film where it starts hooking me. In Snowpiercer, it was when they were planning a riot. In Parasite, a shocking event changes the mood, making the film suddenly becomes less funny and more serious. In both cases, the films draw you in intensely.

The actors who work with the director also admire his abilities. Jake Gyllenhaal knew he had to work with Bong Joon Ho when he read the script for Okja, which Bong wrote. Bong is credited as a screenwriter on all of his feature films.

In early January, Bong Joon Ho won an award for Parasite at the Golden Globes. The film is also in contention for the Oscars later this year.I really hope that we see more from him in the future.

Image: Raffi Asdourian/Flickr