This Melbourne Cinema Is Screening Bong Joon-Ho’s Best Movies

Even before its historic Oscars win, Parasite stole the internet’s heart. But it’s far from the only Bong Joon-ho movie that’s worthy of mountains of praise, and now The Astor Theatre in Melbourne is putting on a retrospective of some of the filmmaker’s best flicks.

For the next four weeks, you can watch some of the gems of Joon-ho’s back catalogue every Monday night.

Even better? The Bong Joon-ho retrospective kicks off tonight with a special black and white screening of Parasite.

Even if you’ve already seen the Best Picture winner, the black and white version is worth a rewatch.

“The first time, it felt like I was watching an old movie, a story from long ago,” Joon-ho told The Hollywood Reporter about the black and white version. “But the second time, the movie felt more intense; it felt [more] cruel. If you all watch, you will probably all feel differently.”

anytime i see bong joon-ho being lauded with praise by anyone pic.twitter.com/IbO61OctVG

— josh lewis (@thejoshl) January 6, 2020

That’s being followed up by a double feature of The Host and Mother on March 9. The Host follows a man trying to rescue his daughter after a mutated sea creature attacks her and drags her to the sewers.

Mother is about an unnamed widow, only referred to as, you guessed it, “mother”, trying to prove her son’s innocence for the brutal murder of a young girl.

Then see the best Hollywood Chris (Evans) in Snowpiercer on March 16. The sci-fi thriller takes place on a train that constantly travels around the world, carrying the last few humans who survived a climate catastrophe.

Chris Evans leads a revolution of lower-class citizens as they storm the train and overthrow the rich members of the elite who live in comfort and wealth at the front of the train.

The retrospective ends on March 23 with another screening of Parasite, this time in full colour.

You can get tickets to the screenings here.

(Lead image: Parasite / Barunson E&A)