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Oscar winning Parasite director Bong Joon Ho breaks down Lee Issac Chung’s Minari at FYC
Parasite director Bong Joon Ho in conversation with Minari director Issac Chung.
The leading director in consideration for the 2021 Academy Awards, Lee Issac Chung, the director of Minari, and Oscar-winning director of 'Parasite', Bong Joon Ho, had an enriching conversation about cinema, filmmaking and the Oscars at the FYC Festival held by Variety.
This conversation, which took place over a video call, with director Issac Chung of Minari, nominated for two awards at the Boston Critics Association Awards, and 10 nominations from the Indiana Journalist Association, and director Bong Joon Ho, who made history with four Oscars for 'Parasite' is gaining incredible attention in South Korea as well as worldwide and is becoming a matter of national pride. This talk was held as one of the programs under the FYC Festival, a premier event for the upcoming awards season in which filmmakers, actors and artists participate.
In a conversation that lasted for about 40 minutes, the two analyzed 'Minari' together, and presented not only professional perspectives such as scene-by-scene direction break down, exploring the process of creating scenes, shooting locations, and interaction with actors, but also varied small episodes and anecdotes that the audience can resonate with.
Director Bong Joon Ho, who admitted to having seen and admired 'Minari' twice, started the conversation by asking whether the family of director Issac Chung had seen his film, which is known to be autobiographical. Director Chung said, “I showed them the movie around Thanksgiving in November last year, and I was very afraid that it would ruin the Thanksgiving meal. Honestly, I was more scared than I was at the movie premiere, but the whole family loved the movie and I was able to have a great time.” Accordingly, director Bong Joon Ho expressed his sympathy as a director, saying that it takes courage to film a story about oneself or a real family. “Although the merit of 'Minari' is that it is an autobiographical story, it is not soaked in nostalgia. The viewpoint is distributed across various characters, no voiceover or narration stands out, and the sense of distance seems to make the movie more beautiful and universal”, he added.
With regards to actor Steven Yeun, who starred in 'Minari' and had also appeared in director Bong Joon Ho's movie 'Okja', both directors expressed their appreciation and admiration for the actor being "an actor with a peculiar loveliness and a side that makes you want to love him." Director Bong Joon Ho praised Steven Yeun by saying that he has a strange cuteness and that it was amazing to see him deliver a whole different level of performance in ‘Minari’. He continued by saying, "I was able to see a new side of Stephen Yeun."
At the end of the conversation, director Chung said, “I was able to see my parents in a different way through 'Minari', and my parents also learned how their son sees and think of them while watching 'Minari'.”
Critics and overseas media outlets are hailing Minari for its brilliance and are openly stating that Minari deserves to succeed Parasite. Truly, Minari is a beautiful story that transcends borders and that every soul can relate to and resonate with on some level. This Christmas, grab your family and get together to watch this heart-warming film.
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