Ranked: Parasite, Oscars best picture, and the six other films of director Bong Joon-ho

South Korean director’s seven films span genres from science fiction to police procedural to small-town murder mystery, but all have much in common

Bong uses comedy to leaven stories about inequality, economic imbalance, ingrained corruption and abuse of power that reflect his view of South Korean society

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Spike Lee presents the Oscar for best director for Bong Joon-ho for Parasite. The film also won the Academy Awards for best picture, best international feature and best original screenplay. Photo: Reuters

Published: 7:51pm, 11 Jun 2019Updated: 3:52pm, 10 Feb 2020

Bong Joon-ho made history at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 when his film Parasite became the first from South Korea to win the Palme d’Or. At the 92nd Academy Awards it created more history as the first foreign-language film to win the Oscar for best picture - one of four Academy Awards it earned, including best director.

The film, which follows two families – one wealthy, the other desperately poor – whose lives become irrevocably intertwined, is the latest scabrous black comedy from a director who has repeatedly satirised Korea’s desperate economic inequality.

Parasite has been a critical and commercial hit in South Korea and in North America, a notoriously tough market for foreign-language films to crack.

So how does the film compare with the rest of Bong’s output? We rank all seven of his feature films, from worst to best.

7. Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)

Bong’s debut feature details the struggles of residents and employees of a suburban housing estate. A frustrated academic (Lee Sung-jae) is clashing heads with his pregnant wife, who is still working a full-time office job while her husband procrastinates over securing a university professorship.