South Korean director Bong Joon Ho's dark comedy “Parasite” has won the Oscar for best international feature, a category previously known as best foreign film
By
JOHN ROGERS Associated Press
February 10, 2020, 3:52 AM
2 min read
LOS ANGELES -- “Parasite,“ director Bong Joon Ho’s dark comedy about wealth inequality won the Oscar for best international feature at Sunday’s Academy Awards, becoming the first South Korean film to capture an Oscar.
It was the second win of the night for Bong, who earlier shared the best original screenplay award with his “Parasite” co-writer co-writer Han Jin Won.
A jubilant Bong accepted the award to a standing ovation, noting he had won in a category that until this year had been named best foreign film.
“I am so happy to be its first recipient under the new name,” he said in Korean, adding, “I applaud and support the new direction that this change symbolizes."
He then joked in English, “Thank you. I'm ready to drink tonight until next morning.”
“Parasite,” a critical and commercial success, features a cast largely unknown in the West. It tells the story of how an unemployed family of four living in a slum basement apartment comically con their way into the lives of one of Seoul’s wealthiest families before things begin to unravel darkly.
A favorite with critics, “Parasite” won the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or last year.
It was also nominated for best film and Bong was nominated for best director.
The writer-director has said he came up with the film's premise seven years ago, originally envisioning it as a play with the stage divided between the homes of the wealthy and the impoverished families.
He also drew on his time as college-student tutor in creating the film's young protagonist who, after landing a similar job, tricks his student's family into providing jobs for his mother, father and sister, something Bong never did.
