Bong Joon Ho’s ability to unexpectedly and effortlessly blend genres and tones has put him at the forefront of international cinema. His smartly entertaining films—works of formal mastery with a humanist’s sensibility—deliver visceral thrills alongside charged sociopolitical critiques, putting gonzo spins and bloody twists on the police procedural and the monster movie, adventure sagas, and domestic melodramas. His skills have been on fierce display from his very first feature, the brilliantly cracked Barking Dogs Never Bite, to his widely celebrated latest, Parasite. In honor of that Palme d’Or–winning masterpiece, Film at Lincoln Center is pleased to present all of Bong’s features and a selection of shorts, plus a carte blanche of favorite films handpicked by the director himself, who will appear in person.

Highlights of the retrospective include the whimsical yet unsettling fable Okja, deftly blending humor, pathos, and the evils of capitalism; the genre-defying NYFF47 selection Mother, starring veteran South Korean actress Kim Hye-ja in a powerhouse performance; and several films featuring Bong’s frequent collaborator and Parasite star Song Kang Ho: haunting police procedural Memories of Murder, based on the true story of South Korea’s first serial killer; Bong’s star-studded English language debut Snowpiercer, a class uprising thriller co-starring Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, and Ed Harris; and The Host (NYFF44), which combines creature-feature thrills with human drama and co-stars Barking Dogs Never Bite actress Bae Doona. The series will also showcase a selection of Bong’s short film work, including his shocking found footage-style short Influenza and Shaking Tokyo, Bong’s segment of the cinematic triptych Tokyo!

The Bong Show also features an eclectic carte blanche of cinematic favorites chosen by Bong Joon Ho himself, with highlights including Kim Ki-young’s folk mystery Io Island; John Frankenheimer’s sinister sci-fi drama Seconds; Henri-George Clouzot’s Palme d’Or-winning The Wages of Fear; horror classics like John Carpenter’s The Thing and John Boorman’s Deliverance; and two works from Japanese masters, Shohei Imamura‘s Intentions of Murder and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cure. 

Organized by Dennis Lim, Florence Almozini, and Tyler Wilson. 

Acknowledgments
Jeonju Cinema Project; Japan Foundation; Korean Academy of Film Arts; Korean Film Archive; NEON