The ‘ranking’ of Bong Joon-ho’s films: ‘Snowpiercer’ or ‘Parasites’?

Those of us who watched the broadcast of the ninety-second gala during which they delivered the oscars at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on February 9, 2020, it’s hard for us to forget the excited face of the South Korean director bong joon-ho looking at one of the statuettes he had received for parasiteshis seventh feature film and great winner of the Hollywood night with four golden bald men in his pocket.

It had already won the Golden Globe for best foreign film, two other BAFTAs and the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Festival, unanimously granted and to which another proposal from the director, okhad been nominated before and, thanks to The Host Y mother, to other awards of the same. But the story of the Kim family at the Park house was overwhelming for its 308 awards in total.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re working. I can’t make a movie without 100 percent creative control. and final cut,” says Bong Joon-ho with a strong sense of cinematic authorship. “If there is such a guarantee, I can work anywhere.” But always “with the express aim of surprising the viewer”. If Alfred Hitchcock raised his head, he would want to shake his hand.

The opinion of specialized critics on the work of Bong Joon-ho

This is the ranking of Bong Joon-ho’s films according to the information consulted in the area of Rotten Tomatoes for critics:

1. parasites (2019): average grade of 9.4 out of 10 in 466 reviews.
2. Memories of Murder (Chronicle of a serial killer) [2003]: half of 8.2 in 79 reviews.
3. Snowbreaker (Snowpiercer) [2013]: half of 8.1 in 261 reviews.
4. Barking dog, little biter (2000): mean of 8 in 16 reviews.
5. mother (2009): mean of 7.9 in 118 reviews.
6. The Host (2006): mean of 7.7 in 155 reviews.
7. ok (2017): mean of 7.6 in 241 reviews.

Rotten Tomatoes moviegoers’ opinion

Anonymous users who vote on Rotten Tomatoes They leave us this result of Bong Joon-ho:

1. parasites: average mark of 4.5 out of 5 with more than 5,000 votes.
2. Memories of Murder (Chronicle of a serial killer): half of 4.3 with more than 10,000 votes.
3. mother: half of 4.1 with more than 10,000 votes.
4. ok: half of 3.9 with more than 10,000 votes.
5. Barking dog, little biter: half of 3.7 with more than 1,000 votes.
6. Snowbreaker (Snowpiercer): half of 3.7 with more than 50,000 votes.
7. The Host: half of 3.7 with more than 100,000 votes.

IMDb moviegoers’ opinion on Bong Joon-ho’s cinema

On the other hand, here are the numbers that he gives us IMDb on what the public thinks of Bong Joon-ho’s films:

1. parasites: average mark of 8.5 out of 10 with 739,175 votes.
2. Memories of Murder (Chronicle of a serial killer): half of 8.1 with 172,254 votes.
3. mother: half of 7.8 with 61,934 votes.
4. ok: half of 7.3 with 117,914 votes.
5. Snowbreaker (Snowpiercer): half of 7.1 with 352,751 votes.
6. The Host: half of 7.1 with 118,713 votes.
7. Barking dog, little biter: half of 6.9 with 8,193 votes.

FilmAffinity moviegoers’ opinion

And finally, this is the information about Bong Joon-ho that he gives us FilmAffinity:

1. parasites: average mark of 8 out of 10 with 57,831 votes.
2. Memories of Murder (Chronicle of a serial killer): half of 7.6 with 22,102 votes.
3. mother: half of 7.2 with 8,258 votes.
4. ok: half of 6.6 with 17,713 votes.
5. Barking dog, little biter: half of 6.5 with 948 votes.
6. Snowbreaker (Snowpiercer): half of 6.4 with 27,772 votes.
7. The Host: half of 6 with 31,969 votes.

Conclusions on the best and worst of Bong Joon-ho

With the impressive international recognition that it had at the time, it may not surprise us in the least that the choice of parasites as Bong Joon-ho’s best movie be unanimous from the data we have collected: specialized critics and moviegoers who put a number on their experiences with viewings on Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb and FilmAffinity have chosen it as such. With Memories of Murder in second place.

However, when it comes to worst of the filmmaker born in South Korea, the same does not happen. Professional analysts point out ok in this sense, the voters of Rotten Tomatoes and FilmAffinity prefer The Host and those of IMDb, meanwhile, Barking dog, little biter. But we must clarify this: none of these feature films fails for critics and the public.