Pablo O. Scholz
02/08/2020 - 18:11
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The interview with Bong Joon-ho had been processing it since December last year. It was going to be done before Christmas, but for reasons of schedule, the agenda of the director of Parasites , could not be done.
And now that the filmmaker is on the crest of the wave, and half the world talks about his film - which is a candidate for six awards tonight - the possibility of making a telephone interview with Los Angeles arose. But not in English, a language that Bong handles, but in Korean.
So it was done, but with a translator in the middle. The 20 minutes kindly granted by the director of Memoirs of a murderer , The Host and Okja yielded almost half, or less. He asked, the translator did it in Korean, Bong thought, responded in his native language and the translator translated it into Spanish. We already know that in this type of triangulation some angles and colors are lost in the air.
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The first question pointed to how much he knows about Argentina, our culture and our cinema. “I was lucky to visit Argentina in 2000 and 2013, at the Mar del Plata Festival and the Independent Cinema Festival of Buenos Aires, and I also have acquaintances among the young directors of your country,” says Bong, in mouth of the translator. I also remember Matías Piñeiro, who is a friend of mine, and other important filmmakers from Argentina. ”
-How many speeches have you prepared for the ceremony? Because you can win 4 statuettes.
- Which four could I receive?
I understand that it is a joke in response to mine, and I ask the translator to clarify it: best film, best international film, best director and best original script.
-Haha. I'm glad you're so optimistic in your forecasts. So far I have never prepared a speech, as long as I have received an award I have thought about it by climbing the stairs on stage.
The Korean filmmaker with Pedro Almodóvar, and with the nominations in hand, in the classic meeting that the Academy raliza a day before the award ceremony. Almodóvar competes with "Pain and glory." REUTERS
-The class struggle, "the crack", is one of the issues you address, again and again. Why does he do this?
-I do not have as an objective to talk about politics or social differences, about the community, but it is my purpose to talk about the human being itself, and we cannot leave out, referring to man, his environment and his social and political context.
The club of 5. The directors who compete in the best international film category: Bong Joon-ho, the Polish Jan Komasa, Pedro Almodóvar, the French Ladj Ly and the directors of the Macedonian film, Tamara Kotevska and Ljubo Stefanov. AFP
-A class struggle also takes, for example, "Joker." Do you think it is a reason why both films are so successful among the public?
-I think that the difference between the rich and the poor, social differences are a global issue, in every society they exist, but it would seem that the way in which I faced these inequalities, in the ways of approaching it, has had great Public acceptance.
-Who are the parasites in your movie ...?
-For me the rich and the poor, both are parasites, but the rich are even more parasites, since they do not know how to drive, nor do they know how to do anything and suck the effort of the poor.
Smiling The cast, along with Bong, when they won the actors' union award for best cast. EFE
-You have said verbatim: "I am a sadist, I'm sorry, I like to make the public suffer while having fun." Could you please expand?
-Well, it's not that the public suffers, but yes, my intention was for the viewer to finish watching the movie, in a fun way, but when he leaves the cinema, he walks and is back in his house, he has something rattling in the mind, seeking and trying to understand what persists, something that bothers you in your thinking after watching the movie. That is my purpose.
-How is the series going with HBO on “Parasites”? What do you plan to extend?
-It will be a six-chapter miniseries, in which we would elaborate more crudely on this story, so that everyone could understand better, develop it more.
Who are the parasites, the poor or the rich in the film? The director answers it.
- But they are not going to do it with the same Korean actors, but in the United States… It would be an adaptation.
- We think about doing it in the universe of the United States, which is the capital of capitalism, and in which the difference between rich and poor is even greater than in Korea, and this story would be set.
- Can you imagine a sequel to "Parasites", in movies or streaming?
-Not specifically for Parasites , because before I started filming it already had two works, two confirmed projects, a horror movie and another production of an English story.
After "Parasites," the Korean filmmaker will focus on two new projects.
-What is your opinion regarding the global protests against the economic system?
- I think that the States, the countries, should repair and try to solve the problems that afflict those people of the lower class, who have reached the end of their patience. This is demonstrated by the great movements such as the French, with the yellow vests, or the social movements that were in Chile and in other Latin American countries.
-Your casts are usually of a homogeneous quality. How is your method of working with the actors? Do you rehearse a lot? Are you adamant in filming?
-Normally as a director I try to create a friendly, gentle environment, so that the actors can naturally expand on their role. But in this movie I specifically had to try to get the actors to work as clocks, very synchronized, since many adjustments were required, there were many very decisive and punctual artistic aspects, which is why I was a little more strict in Parasites .
In May of last year, with the Palme d'Or that he won at the Cannes Festival .AFP
-Alfred Hitchcock said he preferred to sit down to ride, to edit, rather than to film. Do you feel more comfortable at what stage of production?
-For me it is difficult to roll, for me it is difficult to make the combination ... everything is difficult for me !, work ... I'm just trying to survive, because I work hard.
-What is more important, take the Palme d'Or in Cannes or win the Oscar?
-For me a prize is not to have it in my house and pass a rag to see how beautiful it is and self-stimulate, but the important thing is how much it helps me to be able to do the next works of my career.
-Why is he a film director?
-I don't really remember the moment, why, or when it was that I wanted to be a film director. But what I remember is that since elementary school I always wanted to be. I never thought of doing anything else, I never tried to do something else.
-What is the best that Korean cinema can bring to cinema, in general?
-I think there are a lot of media at the moment, like streaming, but I think if we can show that the strength of cinema is still alive today, that is what the Korean film industry could collaborate with.
-And what is worth taking from Western cinema, for Korean cinema?
Here, the translator clarifies that Bong understood the question backwards: what can Korean cinema bring to the West. The same is a valid question.
- There is still some hint of madness in Korean cinema. That has been lost a lot in Western cinema, and it would be good if Western cinema took that madness into account.