It feels like eons since Jane Fonda opened an envelope on the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, took a deeply dramatic pause, and, with a slight smile and a benevolent gaze, uttered the word, “Parasite.” But it was just five years ago that Bong Joon-ho’s decade-defining crime thriller won the Oscar for Best Picture — a history-making win that opened the floodgates for Korean cinema to take the global stage, and a rare high for an awards show that seems like it’s becoming more infuriating by the second. So perhaps there’s no better time to revisit Parasite, especially as Bong Joon-ho prepares to finally release his long-anticipated follow-up.
