‘Parasite’ was one of the best-acted movies of 2019. Why didn’t the Oscars recognize that?
LA TimesSpoiler alert: If you have not seen “Parasite,” be forewarned that this essay discusses key plot details from the movie, including the ending. Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” made Oscar history on Monday morning by becoming the first Korean movie to score nominations not only for international feature but also for best picture, director and original screenplay. But amid these well-earned, long-overdue milestones, the movie, or rather the motion picture academy, fell short in at least one crucial department: None of the movie’s outstanding actors — including Chang Hyae Jin, Cho Yeo Jeong, Choi Woo Shik, Lee Jung Eun, Lee Sun Kyun, Park So Dam and Song Kang Ho — received an acting nomination. As the New York Magazine/Vulture writer E. Alex Jung recently noted, “There’s an old prejudice at work here that sees Asian people as technical workers — hence the praise for Bong Joon Ho — and refuses to see us as fully human.” The oversight feels especially glaring if you come away from “Parasite” convinced, as I was, that it features some of the best individual performances — and the single most dazzling, nuanced and sustained feat of collaborative acting — in any movie last year. The cast earned a Screen Actors Guild nomination for best ensemble — the first time a non-English-language movie has pulled off that feat in the 21 years since “Life Is Beautiful.” Song won best supporting actor for his performance as the film’s working-class patriarch from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.