Kevin Wozniak
Is Bong Joon Ho the best director of this century? It’s a bold statement and a daunting question to think about, considering how many great films have come out in the first 25 years of the 2000s and how many great filmmakers have made multiple great films. Everyone will have a different answer to this question, but let me entertain you with the idea that it is Bong Joon Ho.
The South Korean writer and director made his debut in 2000 and has released eight films in 25 years tackling various genres and tones. He has received critical praise and won countless awards, most notably sweeping the 2019 movie year, winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Picture in the same year, something only two other films have ever done (1955’s Marty and 2024’s Anora).
Bong Joon Ho is a master craftsman behind the camera. Has there been a director who has worked within so many different genres and had the success that Bong Joon Ho has? He’s made a police procedural, a monster movie, a post-apocalyptic action film, a sci-fi epic, and a domestic drama while subverting the genres and effortlessly blending several in the same film. Has there been a director that has been able to tackle tough, hot-button issues like classism, capitalism, environmentalism, police corruption, and parental desperation while also making wildly entertaining and original films? If Bong Joon Ho’s name is in the credits, people will be seated with anticipation regardless of what the film is about, a level only a few directors have.
I’m not giving a definitive answer on whether Bong Joon Ho is the best director of the 2000s. But after watching his entire filmography, I can’t think of another director whose films are as entertaining, relevant, and subversive while also being made at the highest level. Bong Joon Ho is one of the best directors working today and his filmography is an eclectic group of brilliant films. Here is my ranking of the films of Bong Joon Ho.
8. Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
Bong Joon Ho made his feature directorial debut with 2000’s Barking Dogs Never Bite, an extremely dark comedy about a part-time college professor (Lee Sung-jae) struggling with his career and marriage. When a dog in his apartment complex won’t stop barking, he takes matters into his own hands.
While it features comedic moments and sprinkles of things we will see from Bong in the future, like themes of class and people living in basements, Barking Dogs Never Bite never fully works. It’s overlong, there are too many plots, and some of the things that happen to animals in the film are rather disturbing.
7. Okja (2017)
Okja landing at number seven on the list is not an indictment on the film, but more about how great Bong Joon Ho’s filmography is. Okja is a sweet and powerful story about a giant pig named Okja, a little girl who loves him, and the evil corporation who wants to exploit him.
Okja is not a perfect movie. It runs longer than it should, some of the corporate plot doesn’t work, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s performance is decisive, though I enjoyed it. Okja succeeds as an affective and powerful film about animal cruelty and corporate greed, and is held together by the friendship between Okja and its owner.
6. Mickey 17 (2025)
Mickey 17 is Bong Joon Ho’s biggest film to date in terms of scale. Bong takes us to space in the story of Mickey (Robert Pattinson, in a spectacular dual performance) who signs up to be an “expendable” on a military space mission to a new planet. As an expendable, Mickey does dangerous missions and tests experimental medicines and drugs for the military. If he dies during these missions, he is reincarnated the next day and put back to work until he becomes part of an uprising and realizes he has a purpose in life other than dying.
Bong effortlessly adjusts to the big scale of Mickey 17. He shows us the depths of space and gives the new planet a life of its own. The action on the ship, where most of the film takes place, is where the film shines. The production design, plus how Bong shows us the ship’s logistics and corridors, make it a character.
What struck me most about Mickey 17 was how light and optimistic it was compared to other Bong Joon Ho films. It’s easily his funniest movie to date and the film ends on a happier, optimistic note, something never seen in any of Bong’s films, despite some heavy political themes. At the end of it all, Mickey 17 is about a man trying to be happy, something I think we can all relate to.
5. The Host (2006)
Inspired by a 2000s scandal in which an American ordered a Korean mortician to dump formaldehyde into the Han River, The Host is an exhilarating creature feature about a mysterious creature that appears from the Han River in Seoul and causes mayhem and destruction across the city. Bong pays homage to classic monster films like Godzilla and Ultraman while also satirizing the ineptitude of political leadership by showing how they poorly handle the creature terrorizing the city due to their incompetence and instead put fear in the entire city of a mysterious pandemic. All this while focusing on a powerful core story of a father (Song Kang-Ho) who is desperate to find his daughter who was taken by a creature. With this being only Bong’s third feature film, this added a new level to his directorial style, showing his love for a genre while layering it with smart and timely political allegory.
4. Snowpiercer (2013)
Adapted from the graphic novel Le Transperceneige, Snowpiercer takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that is completely frozen over and the only survivors are on a train that circles the world. The train is broken down into social classes, with the rich and powerful living a lavish life at the front of the train and the poor living in grimy conditions at the back of the train. Sick of their treatment and living conditions, the lower class decides to make a move toward the front of the train.
Snowpiercer is thrilling, brutal, stylish, and action-packed, with some spectacularly bloody fight sequences. It features Bong’s most star-studded cast with the likes of Tilda Swinton, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, and Chris Evans in one of the best performances of the year. Snowpiercer was Bong Joon Ho’s first English-language film and what a debut it was.
3. Mother (2009)
Kim Hye-ja gives the best performance in any Bong Joon Ho movie in Mother. She stars as a mother desperately trying to prove her son’s innocence after he is accused of murdering a young girl. Mother is a captivating character study about the desperation of a parent trying to save their child despite the evidence stacking against them and mixes it with a chilling murder mystery. Mother is Bong’s most emotionally effective film, as the story of the mother and the lengths she goes to try and save her son is harrowing and leads to a gut-punch finale that is hard to shake. Mother showed that Bong was not only a master of genre, but a writer and director who could craft fascinating human stories.
2. Memories of Murder (2003)
Based on a true case of several murders in the Hwaseong area of South Korea from 1986 and 1991, Memories of Murder is an immaculately told police story about two detectives (Song Kang-Ho and Kim Sang-kyung) who struggle to find a murderer who has been murdering young girls in their small town.
I don’t know if I have ever seen a bigger leap from debut film to sophomore film than the leap Bong Joon Ho made from Barking Dogs Never Bite to Memories of Murder. It’s kind of hard to believe that both of those films were made by the same director. Memories of Murder is a stunning film and really feels like the first true Bong Joon Ho film. It has stylish visuals, complex characters, and deep themes about Korean politics and policing. It was Bong Joon Ho’s first collaboration with Song Kang-ho, one of the best actor-director duos we’ve seen this century, and features an all-time final shot. Memories of Murder is a layered, disturbing, gripping film and one of the best police procedurals I have ever seen.
1. Parasite (2019)
Is it a surprising choice? No, but after watching his entire filmography, Parasite is without question Bong Joon Ho’s best film and arguably his most important as well. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in May of 2019, it unanimously won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize (one of the rare films to win unanimously) and immediately started a buzz that would carry through the rest of the year. It won four Academy Awards, with Bong winning Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture, the first non-English language film ever to win Best Picture. It was an iconic, game-changing moment for cinema and cemented Bong Joon Ho as one of the best working directors.
But the accolades are only part of the reason why Parasite is Bong Joon Ho’s best film. It is one of those rare movies that even after seeing multiple times, still surprises. It is Bong’s best screenplay and best directorial effort, with a perfect combination of drama, humor, thrills, and emotion. It dives into themes of classism and greed, themes Bong dove into before, as we watch a destitute family of con artists infiltrate the life of a rich family. It features his best ensemble, led by Song Kang-Ho as the patriarch of the family of con artists, who work together seamlessly to create two interesting families who are very different in class, and the way he shoots the mansion and basement houses is gorgeous and narratively affecting.
Parasite is a modern masterpiece and a perfect summation of Bong Joon Ho’s career. Everything he had excelled at in his career, blending of genres, deep themes, surprising twists and turns, great performances and craftsmanship, came together in Parasite. It is a special film with endless rewatchability. It is one of the best Best Picture winners ever and the best film of Bong Joon Ho’s career.
