<em>Parasite </em>Won So Much More Than the Best Picture Oscar
Bong Joon Ho’s drama became the first South Korean film to nab the top prize. But its success as a global phenomenon was cemented long before last night.
Last fall, as his began to reach American audiences, the South Korean director Bong Joon Ho offered a straightforward assessment during the chaotic lead-up to the U.S. awards season. “The Oscars are not an international film festival,” he . “They’re very local.” In two crisp sentences, Bong both described and rejected the Academy’s historic treatment of films outside its . The Oscars have never been the pinnacle of artistic recognition for films made outside the U.S. (and perhaps Europe). Yet ’s incredible run at last night’s ceremony—it picked up a total of from directors such as Martin Scorsese and Sam Mendes. In doing so, became the first non-English-language movie to win the Academy’s top award—and made history.
