Here's where to stream Parasite Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho's other movies
Want to be a member of the Bong Hive? It’s a growing group, especially following the Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and International Feature wins for Bong Joon Ho‘s thriller Parasite at the 2020 Oscars, wins that were met by an outpouring of love from the South Korean filmmaker’s fans. You may not realize it but chances are good that you have passed by his other movies on your favorite streaming service. Don’t worry, you can get on the train now. All aboard!
To make your life easier, we’re breaking down where to watch all of the movies Bong has directed. Most are just a click away!
Okja (2017)
Starring: Byun Hee-bong, Yoon Je-moon, Choi Woo-shik, Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Steven Yeun, Paul Dano, Lily Collins, and Giancarlo Esposito
Genre: Action-adventure
Okja follows a South Korean girl who raises a super-pig, an animal that is competing to be the world’s best. The production was backed by both Netflix and Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B entertainment. As with other Bong films, the movie featured a familiar face from Parasite, Choi Woo-shik (the son), who played Kim Woo-shik, a young driver for the Mirando Corporation.
Snowpiercer (2013)
Starring: Chris Evans, Song Kang-ho, Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, Go Ah-sung, John Hurt, and Ed Harris.
Genre: Sci-fi action
Snowpiercer is a one-way ticket to chaos, where the last remaining members of humanity are all aboard a globe-spanning train, separated into separate sections based on their class in society. The movie also features Parasite‘s Song Kang-ho (the father) as a devious security specialist who likes to get high a little too often.
Mother (2009)
Available to rent on Amazon for $3.99, Vudu for $2.99
Starring: Kim Hye-ja and Won Bin
Genre: Noir thriller
Mother puts a familial bond to the test when a widowed woman’s son is named the prime suspect in a recent murder. The film debuted at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and currently has a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Host (2006)
Available to stream for free on Tubi with sign-up; available to rent on Amazon, Vudu starting for $2.99
Starring: Song Kang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Park Hae-il, Bae Doona and Go Ah-sung.
Genre: Monster flick
Song Kang-ho (the father in Parasite) is a father trying to rescue his daughter from the grips of an amphibious monster. The film also features Byun Hee-bong (seen in Okja) as the grandfather of the lost child. The New York Times at the time called the film a “cautionary environmental tale about the domination of nature and the costs of human folly, and it may send chills up your spine. But only one will tickle your fancy and make you cry encore, not just uncle.”
Memories of Murder (2003)
Stream for free on Popcornflix
Starring: Song Kang-ho and Kim Sang-kyung
Genre: Crime drama
Two South Korean detectives must crack a series of cofounding crimes that have them progressively at odds in Bong’s follow-up to his debut film. Fellow nominee for Best Director Quentin Tarantino once said he considered both 2006’s The Host and Memories of Murder “masterpieces.” “Of all the filmmakers out there in the last 20 years, he has something that [1970s] Spielberg has. There is this level of entertainment and comedy in his films. [The Host and Memories of Murder] are both masterpieces … great in their own way,” he said.
Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
Available to stream for free on Tubi with sign-up; available to rent on Amazon for $3.99, Vudu for $2.99; available on Shudder with a subscription
Starring: Lee Sung-jae, Bae Doona Byun, Byun Hee-bong
Genre: Dark Comedy
Bong’s directorial debut followed a professor who was fed up with barking dogs, so fed up that he began kidnapping them. The film didn’t arrive in the U.S. until 2009 after the success of films including The Host and Mother.
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