It was the last pre-pandemic Oscars ceremony and one that felt like it broke new ground. The big winner that night was the first film in a language other than English to win Best Picture. It scooped Best Director, Original Screenplay and, of course, International Film as well. Despite the might of Scorsese and The Irishman, and Tarantino with Once Upon A Time …., South Korea’s Bong Joon Ho made light work of brushing aside the competition with Parasite, which has just been added to Netflix in the US on February 1 (also available on Netflix in the UK).
With his reputation already established by the apocalyptic thriller Snowpiercer (2013) and environmental fantasy Okja (2017) — which is also on Netflix in the US and UK — and the Palme D’Or already under his belt for Parasite, an Oscar triumph was perhaps inevitable.
