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Post by HappyFan on Oct 11, 2019 15:29:53 GMT
Other than the Oscar, the biggest award a film can win in the world is probably the Palme D'Or, which is basically the Best Picture Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the world's most important film festival. Somehow I missed that earlier this year, for the first time, it was a Korean film that won that award!
The film is called Parasite, and the reason I mention it now is that this week it is released in the United States. You won't find it everywhere, of course, but look out for it if it shows up in your town. The film was directed by Bong Joon Ho, a great director whose past films include Okja, Snowpiercer, The Host and Memories of Murder (I loved the last two and have heard great things about the other two). The film stars Korean film legend Song Kang Ho, who also was in Host and Memories.
Here's the trailer!
The plot: a poor family fakes their way into employment with a rich family. It starts out being a pretty funny caper story as the poor folks try to figure out new ways to sucker the rich ones. But as usual with Bong, things take a hard turn in the second half, and... well, I'm keeping myself unspoiled, but expect the unexpected!
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Post by HappyFan on Oct 11, 2019 15:36:23 GMT
Here's a second trailer that explains the plot a little more:
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Post by IceCat on Oct 12, 2019 3:52:58 GMT
Interesting postscript to the film "Memories of Murder": police recently revealed that DNA evidence tied a prisoner in jail for other charges to the real life murders depicted in the movie. Sadly he can't be prosecuted for them now as the statute of limitations has expired.
Kevin
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Post by HappyFan on Oct 12, 2019 6:45:22 GMT
Yes, I read an interview with Song where he revealed that the murderer was finally discovered, 20 years after the fact and about thirteen years after the movie. Glad they finally found him; if the real life cops were anything like the guys in the movie, I'm surprised they ever found him!
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Post by legitimategolf on Oct 15, 2019 4:23:06 GMT
Dang, I was invited to see this tomorrow, but I can't make it. Looks a little intense for me. Lee Sun Kyun is great though. I really enjoyed JTBC's "My Wife's Having an Affair this Week". And of course "Coffee Prince", arguably the greatest k-drama of all time.
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Post by HappyFan on Oct 25, 2019 15:59:52 GMT
Parasite has been getting rave reviews; it was 99% on Rotten Tomatoes last I looked. Meanwhile, it is 11th in box office receipts this week, despite playing on just 33 screens nationwide. That's pretty amazing: I'm calling it now: this will not only be the first Korean film to be nominated for the Best Foreign Film Oscar (it's frankly incredible that Korea has NEVER gotten a nomination in that category before), it will be nominated for Best Picture as well. Can't wait to see it!  |
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 12, 2019 17:18:54 GMT
I finally saw this movie the other day. Wild flick! Very powerful and unpredictable. Pretty funny, too, in a pitch black way.
I'm loving all the different posters for this movie.
Here's the poster for the American release
The rock theme for some of these posters makes more sense once you've seen the movie. The fourth one is one of the most beautiful posters I've ever seen for a movie. The second one is a parody poster for the French release that the producers created to make fun of that type of wacky Cheaper by the Dozen type family film. Let me just say that the film is not that type of film!
Some more French posters. I'm becoming obsessed with this! The first is the main French poster.
This is also hilarious
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 20, 2019 6:58:46 GMT
One of the best things about the success Parasite has had so far is seeing articles in English language media about Korean stars. I have been a fan of director Bong Joon Ho and actor Song Kang Ho since 2003, yet this is the first time I've seen articles like the below in magazines like Variety. It's cool to see them finally getting their due in the States! And also kind of jarring; it would be like seeing Jin Young Ko suddenly on the cover of some woman's magazine at the grocery store. (PS - I'm liking ingenue Park So Dam as well, although I have never seen her in anything before; she was great in Parasite!)  |
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Post by HappyFan on Nov 21, 2019 17:09:55 GMT
Last night was the 40th annual Blue Dragon Film awards, Korea's version of the Oscars. Not surprisingly, Parasite was a big winner, with five awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress (Yeo Jeong Cho, who plays the rich mom), Best Supporting Actress (Jung Eun Lee, but not Lucky Six!), and Best Art Direction.
Surprisingly, Song Kang Ho did not win Best Actor, nor did Park So Dam win Best Supporting Actress. But they were there!
Here are some pix and videos:
Park So Dam aka Jessica on the Red Carpet
Best Picture
Song Kang Ho gives Park So Dam some pizza (!!?)
Park So Dam might have lost, but she lost to her co-star, Korean film veteran Jung Eun Lee, who plays the maid. They don't number the JE Lee's in film like in golf!
Cho Yeon Jeong won Best Actress. She was great in the film, too!
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Post by HappyFan on Dec 6, 2019 9:14:06 GMT
Set your DVRs! According to AllKPop, Parasite director Bong Joon Ho will be a guest on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Monday, December 9th. Consider my mind blown: the idea that a top Korean director could appear on a mainstream American talk show is mind boggling! It's a collision of two worlds I never expected to see.
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Post by HappyFan on Dec 10, 2019 10:33:36 GMT
Parasite keeps on chugging. Just this past week, it won the Best Film Award from the LA film critics, who also picked actor Song Kang Ho as Best Supporting Actor (over Joe Pesci in the Irishman!). It won Best Film from the Washington, DC film Film Critics Association, Best Film from the Toronto Film Critics, and Best Foreign language film from a bunch of places including the NYC film critics. It's hard to keep up with it all!
Meanwhile, just yesterday Parasite received three Golden Globe nominations -- the first Korean film EVER honored by the Globes. The noms were for Best Foreign Language film, Best Screenplay (imagine -- a film IN KOREAN nominated for best screenplay!) and Best Director. Note that they are ineligible for Best Picture here, because the Globes have a stupid rule that a film must contain 50% English in order to qualify for the big prize. This same rule nailed The Farewell, a lovely movie starring Awkwafina, which is an American film with, I guess, too much Mandarin Chinese dialog. It got a foreign language nom but not a Best Picture nom.
Then, last night, Bong was on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Here's a clip:
That whole clip is mind boggling to me. It's like a Twilight Zone episode seeing a great Korean director I've been aware of for so long on a show like this. (The clip omits his intro music: the band played Parasite by Kiss as he walked out, which is hilarious because I'm always thinking of that song when I read about this movie. Of course, a BTS or Blackpink number might have been even more appropriate, but I like the obscure choice nonetheless!).
By the way, his translator is garnering a fan club online of her own. She is always there for every appearance Bong makes. She is fantastic -- I've watched clips where she manages seemingly perfect translations of what he says, no matter how long, immediately after he is done speaking. If she isn't busy after this gig, she should contact the LPGA for a job!!
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Post by jumpcut on Dec 31, 2019 18:27:23 GMT
A Youtuber I follow does a really insightful analysis of the film techniques used in Parasite.
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Post by HappyFan on Jan 1, 2020 21:05:21 GMT
Thanks for the clip, it was very interesting! But just a warning that it's a minor spoiler (the montage happens about a third of the way through the movie). Pretty much anything you can watch online about Parasite is a minor or major spoiler, though! |
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Post by HappyFan on Jan 4, 2020 13:54:03 GMT
The Golden Globes is this weekend, and Parasite is nominated for three awards: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay. They weren't eligible for the Best Drama award because the GGs restrict non-English language films to the Best Foreign Film category; The Farewell is also stuck in that category.
Anyhoo, as award season ratchets up, we will start seeing more of these kinds of mash ups of Korean stars and Hollywood:
So Dam Park, who plays the poor family's master scammer daughter, is featured along with a bunch of other stars in the latest edition of W Magazine:
The text from the article:
So-dam Park
Parasite
I have been acting for 10 years. When I heard that Director Bong wanted to see me, the film, which became Parasite, didn’t even have a title. When I was younger, I was afraid to watch Director Bong’s earlier, more frightening films. To be honest with you, I am scared of them even now.
What do you think of Los Angeles?
Last night I went to Koreatown, and I felt like I was at home. We went to the Governors Awards for Parasite, and I saw Charlize Theron. She was standing right next to me, and I got nervous. I loved her in Mad Max: Fury Road. At the time of that film, my head was actually shaved too. I played a part where I became possessed by the devil. When I started acting, I wanted to do musicals. That chance hasn’t come yet.
Song Hang Ko ran into Brad Pitt at a recent awards dinner.
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Post by HappyFan on Jan 4, 2020 14:42:57 GMT
More craziness: Clint Eastwood makes Bong Joon Ho's day at the AFI awards:
Bong meets Laura Dern and Leonardo Di Caprio at a special party thrown by Parasite's distributor.
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