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Was it best movie Oscar worthy? Meh. That's always a popularity contest, so why not? Parasite was the IT movie at the time, so it won the Oscar for best movie. No different than any other year.
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If it was truly a popularity contest, it wouldn't have won. There were no A Celebs in this film. The director was basically unknown in the US. Prior to Oscar night, it wasn't the IT movie.
If it was truly a popularity contest, it wouldn't have won. There were no A Celebs in this film. The director was basically unknown in the US. Prior to Oscar night, it wasn't the IT movie.
Actually, it was the "it" movie. While it did not have actors well known in the U.S. (understandably), the director has made a few movies that are familiar to some in America.
The buzz for Parasite started months before the Oscars. Certainly it was a popular choice for Academy members since it wanted to seem 'edgy' in choosing a foreign language film as overall best picture, and wanted to stave off accusations of being 'racist.'
It’s hard to imagine a golden future for the unemployed Kim family at the start of Parasite, Bong Joon-ho’s thrilling parable about society’s haves and have-nots. The Kims are skimming Wi-Fi from a local café and fumigation services from the city by opening their windows and letting toxic clouds roll in to their miserable basement apartment. Their luck changes rapidly when the son stumbles into a job with a wealthy family under false pretenses. But the entire Kim family’s shifty rise from poverty to gainful employment is nothing compared to the radical success of the film itself.
The Palme d’Or winner at Cannes in May, Parasite is already a hit at home in South Korea, and everywhere else it’s opened to date. It broke box office records for its opening weekend in the U.S., with the highest per screen average ever for a subtitled picture. The film is so popular that the North Korean government is using its depiction of poverty as propaganda. And the movie is likely to make history as the first South Korean submission to be nominated for the best international feature film Oscar, as the category has been renamed this year. Despite a booming film industry that has produced international successes for decades, no South Korean film has made the cut with the Oscars. Given the buzz around Parasite, though, the real question is how many other Oscars it can win too.
Actually, it was the "it" movie. While it did not have actors well known in the U.S. (understandably), the director has made a few movies that are familiar to some in America.
The buzz for Parasite started months before the Oscars. Certainly it was a popular choice for Academy members since it wanted to seem 'edgy' in choosing a foreign language film as overall best picture, and wanted to stave off accusations of being 'racist.'
Both articles written AFTER it had already received the nomination. This was not a case of a popular movie being nominated and winning.
And having "a few movies that are familiar to some in America" hardly makes someone popular. He wasn't well known prior to winning the Oscar.
Umm, the first article was written in November 2019, and the second one was written on September 2019.
The Oscar nominees for 2019 weren't announced until January 13, 2020.
You can believe what you stubbornly want, but Parasite was an international sensation when it was released internationally and did stellar box office including in the United States. It was hardly an unknown entity by the time it received an Oscar nomination, and no doubt its popularity with the public around the world helped influence the Academy members to vote for the movie (in addition to what I said about the Academy wanting to divert criticism of being exclusionary to people of color).
I apologize. I was wrong about the articles. I still disagree that it means the movie was popular prior to the Oscars. Perhaps we have a different definition or standard of popular. Whatever. Not going to continue to argue that point with you since we won’t agree.
I apologize. I was wrong about the articles. I still disagree that it means the movie was popular prior to the Oscars. Perhaps we have a different definition or standard of popular. Whatever. Not going to continue to argue that point with you since we won’t agree.
Suburban Guy was making the point I was making: Parasite was the IT movie. It had the "buzz." That always has an affect on Academy voters.
Just curious, have you seen it? If so, did you like it? Do you think the Academy got it right?
Just curious, have you seen it? If so, did you like it? Do you think the Academy got it right?
Yes, I saw all the nominated films. I enjoyed it for being something different. It wasn't my pick for Best Pic, but I was okay with it winning. I was just happy it wasn't The Irishman or OUATIH.
Certainly it was a popular choice for Academy members since it wanted to seem 'edgy' in choosing a foreign language film as overall best picture, and wanted to stave off accusations of being 'racist.'
I think you are not being fair to the film. We watch Shakespeare's plays today even though nobody lives in the London of 4 centuries ago. The stories rise far above the context in which they were written.
Some of the settings in Parasite are fairly unique to South Korea. It is difficult to imagine post WWII homes built not just with "panic rooms" but entire basements of multiple rooms that can be lived in without the rest of the household even aware of their existence. Citizens of Seoul live just a few miles from an enemy that they have officially been at war with for over half a century.
I believe that the writer of the movie was deliberately trying to invoke the image of King Lear losing his beloved Cordelia. Like the characters in a classical tragedy, the characters in Parasite are petty and vain, and they pay for that pettiness with all their joy and happiness.
My two cents. There are certain types of movies that are likely as good as their reputation, but aren’t my kind of film. I especially avoid anything with body horror, gore, extreme violence, and similar stuff. I’ve been burned by “Psycho,” “Repulsion,” and a few Martin Scorsese films before. As a result, I won’t watch films like “Jaws,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” “The Exorcist,” “The Shining,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “No Country for Old Men,” and the like. “Parasite” joins this list for me.
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