Summary: Parasite (Korean title: 기생충) made headlines in May when it won Cannes Film Festival's prestigious Palm d'Or prize, the first Korean film to ever do so. Now it's November and suddenly people around us who are not so familiar with Korean cinema are starting to talk about it as it's being distributed in America and Europe. It seemed like a good time to talk about director Bong Joon Ho (Korean: 봉준호), namely why we like him, what we thought about Parasite, and what signature filmmaking moves he always makes that you should look for when you go see it. Because you should definitely see it. • We talked about the blurred lines between Indie and Industry film. Here’s an article about how these two models of filmmaking are working in the current world of film. It’s not definitive, but it’s the start of a larger conversation. https://www.hollywoodinsider.com/independent-films-vs-blockbuster/ • Way back in 2016 Stephen Elliott argued that film festivals are a scam. It’s a pretty compelling argument https://therumpus.net/2016/05/the-great-film-festival-swindle/ • Bong Joon Ho is so good at doing interesting and unexpected things with his films, that he begged the press in an open letter not to reveal anything that wasn’t in the film’s trailer, so audiences would be surprised when it took that turn that’s always in a Bong Joon Ho film. • Soo Zee mentioned the lady who funded Parasite. There's not much information in English about her, but here's something in Korean http://www.businesspost.co.kr/BP?command=article_view&num=128976 • We didn’t go into too much detail about the 52-hour workweek, and there’s a lot to unpack about it http://www.donga.com/en/article/all/20190528/1743264/1/Palme-d-Or-winner-Parasite-guarantees-52-hour-workweek-for-film-crew • Bong Joon Ho did a Notes on a Scene too where he broke down the hows and the whys of Parasite's opening sequence https://youtu.be/bP-eqx2X9AY • He did an Anatomy of a Scene with the New York Times too, this one talking about Soo Zee's favorite scene, where they try to get the housekeeper fired https://youtu.be/FxLOTM1wliI
