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Bong’s magnificent accomplishments have provoked global curiosity from fans about his earlier body of work.

Bong told the same magazine that “Fear, anxiety, and a kekeke sense of humour” were the main ingredients in his films. These three brilliant films from the creator of Parasite make compelling viewing.

1. Okja (2017)

The sci-fi, action-adventure is one of Bong’s most controversial works, as it was also a Netflix-produced film that competed for the Cannes Palme d’Or. At its press screening, a technical problem led to the film being mistakenly projected in the wrong aspect ratio, which resulted in a mixture of boos and applause from the crowd. In the end, however, it was well received, and garnered a four-minute standing ovation.

Described as “E.T. on crack” by Indiewire critic David Ehrlich, Okja follows the heart-warming story of Mija, a young South Korean girl from the countryside, who befriends Okja, one of the many genetically-modified ‘super pigs’ bred and distributed by the Mirando Corporation. Mija’s grandfather, who raised Okja, wins an award as the best ‘super pig’ breeder, and Okja is sent to Mirando’s headquarters in New York City for further studies.

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Mija is devastated by the separation and does everything she possibly can to get Okja back, prompting Bong to tell Wired magazine: “The essence of the movie is the love between human and animal. But capitalism turns that love into something ugly and turns living things into commodities.”

The film question the morality that comes with being pro-animals, what it means to be eco-conscious, and whether true evil lies only in the actual eating of animals or the way they are treated while they are alive. Set in Korea and the United States, the film stars child actress Ahn Seo-hyun and Hollywood stars Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal and Lily Collins.

2. Mother (2009)

This gripping suspense thriller and one of Bong’s most personal films stars Kim Hye-ja, an actress known for playing mother figures in her native South Korea for nearly two decades, in the title role.

“I wrote the character for her. If she had said ‘no’, the movie would not have been made,” Bong told the Los Angeles Times. As Kim had a reputation as the “mother of the nation”, Bong was eager to show a vastly different side to the usual doting, loving mother.

Kim plays a single mother with a mentally-challenged 27-year-old son. She makes a living selling herbal medicines and offering her services as a black market acupuncturist. Despite her meagre income, she cares for her fumbling son: often following him until he takes his medicine, and devoting her days to getting him out of trouble and eventually, out of prison. His slow wit sees him end up as the prime suspect in a murder.

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Her unwavering love propels her to prove her son’s innocence. But, as she uncovers bits and pieces of what happened on the night of the fated murder, she also unearths painful memories from years gone by – long hidden, but apparently not forgotten, and serious enough to dent the previously inseparable mother-son relationship. But can her acupuncture skills make the pain go away?

3. The Host (2006)

Joon-ho’s breakout movie and the highest-grossing film in South Korea in 2006, is anything but your average monster movie featuring as its main character a slimy, slithering creature that scares the daylights out of the citizens of Seoul.

The film was inspired by an incident that happened in the city in 2000, when US Forces civilian employee Albert McFarland ordered the dumping of 70 litres of formaldehyde in the Han River.

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This crime against nature leads to the birth of an enormous sea monster which kidnaps the youngest member of a poor family whose members are desperate, funny and lovable – as most of the protagonists in Bong’s films tend to be.

On the surface, all the family needs to do is beat the monster and rescue their young girl, yet the film raises numerous issues about Korean society, student activism, corruption and bribery, as well as providing a political commentary on South Korea’s relationship with the United States. Bong told American film magazine Cineaste that a famous Korean critic described The Host as “Korea’s first legitimate anti-America film” and gave him a four-star rating.

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