Bong Joon-ho: Parasite and 9 other films by the Oscar-winning director

The South Korean director Bong Joon-ho represents the Korean New Wave of dark action comedies. Though talented and ground-breaking, this group of filmmakers received little recognition by the Oscars and other Western awards before 2020. But that didn't matter, Bong said: "It's not a big deal. The Oscars are not an international film festival. They're very local."

Outside the view of Hollywood, Bong Joon-ho has directed and written movies since the 1990s. In 2000, he shot his first feature film inside his own apartment complex. A modest production, 'Barking Dogs Never Bite' tells the story of a failed university professor who abducts his neighbours' dog.

'Barking Dogs Never Bite' was a modest success in Korea. It managed to win some awards at the Hong Kong and Slamdance festivals. 20 Years later, the dark comedy is remembered as a cult classic.

This is the first Bong Joon-ho movie in which actor Song Kang-ho had a major part. The Korean star played a detective trying to solve the case of a serial killer in a small town.

'Memories of Murder' (Salinui chueok) was based on a popular Korean play. Co-written by Bong Joon-ho, it recounted the true case of a 1980s' serial killer in South Korea whom the incompetent police could not seem to catch.

Though not directed but written by Bong Joon-ho, this film is indispensable in the list because of its amazing story. A group of Korean explorers in Antarctica find out that their expedition is eerily similar to a disastrous British expedition they read about in a mysterious journal. The director was Yim Pil-sung.

A horror story about a monster terrorizing Seoul, 'The Host' was Bong Joon-ho's big breakthrough. The film cost 12 million dollars and featured a state-of-the-art digital monster.

'Gwoemul,' meaning 'monster' in Korean, was a summer hit in 2006 and broke South Korean sales records. It premiered at the Cannes film festival and won a range of prizes such as the Blue Dragon, Asian Film, and Saturn Awards for Best (International) Film.

'Tokyo!' is a series of three short films, each by a different director and all set in the Japanese capital. Apart from Bong Joon-ho, the French directors Michel Gondry and Leos Carax each directed a segment.

Bong Joon-ho's film, 'Shaking Tokyo,' is about a man who has not left his house in ten years. A true hermit, or what the Japanese call a 'hikikomori', he finds himself in love with the pizza delivery girl.

Like others in the Korean New Wave of film, Bong Joon-ho does not hesitate to discuss sensitive topics. 'Mother' features actress Kim Hye-ja in the role of a struggling mom trying to save her mentally disabled son from an accusation of murder.

Bong Joon-ho tends to pick the side of the underdog in his films. 'Mother' and her son Do-joon stand alone in the face of the local town and police authorities.

A similar critique of society's pressure on its weaker members is clear in Bong Joon-ho's first English-language film, 'Snowpiercer.' It takes place in a dystopian future, on a train where passengers are divided by their social status. The lower classes decide to embark on a class war against the elite.

'Snowpiercer' had a star cast with Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, and Octavia Spencer. It was produced by Harvey Weinstein, and Bong Joon-ho sometimes felt like an underdog in the face of the American giant. "Weinstein's nickname is 'Harvey Scissorhands,'" he tells Vulture. The producer wanted to cut 25 minutes out of Bong's film, but in the end, the Korean underdog prevailed and kept his director's cut.

Bong Joon-ho was the writer and producer for 'Haemoo' ('Sea Fog') in 2014. Again, the story centers on the most vulnerable people: a group of illegal immigrants who try to reach Korea from China by boat. Sung-bo Shim co-wrote and directed the bleak film.

With impressive special effects, 'Okja' is Bong Joon-ho's most expensive movie to date. Portraying a giant, genetically modified pig raised by a small South Korean girl, the production of the film cost 57 million dollars. It was released by Netflix.

Beside Tilda Swinton, who returned with Bong Joon-ho to play the villain of the movie, Jake Gyllenhaal also has a crazy part in 'Okja.' Premiering at Cannes 2017, the film was received very positively: the New York Times even said it was one of the ten most influential films of the decade.

'Parasite,' which came out in 2019, has won for four Oscars: Best Director, Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, and Best Screenplay. Written, directed, and produced by Bong Joon-ho, it is possibly his masterpiece to date.

Bong Joon-Ho's characteristic political critique lies at the forefront of 'Parasite.' It shows how a poor Korean family scams its way into the household of a rich family. Admitting to Vulture that he is anxious about economic inequality in real life, Bong depicts the wealthy characters in 'Parasite' as superficial and with a scandalous lack of empathy for the poor.

Critics praise Bong Joon-Ho's ability to create his movie shots as if each is a piece of art in itself. 'Parasite,' a dark comedy that slowly turns into a thriller, deservedly won the Palme D'Or and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Film while also picking up the Oscar for Best Film. As Bong himself said at the Golden Globes, there are so many amazing films to see, "once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles."