How ‘Parasite’ made Oscars history as the first foreign-language best picture winner
LA TimesBy the time Leonardo DiCaprio crashed the poolside “Parasite” party at the Sunset Tower Hotel on the weekend of the Golden Globes, the awards-season momentum for Bong Joon Ho’s acclaimed thriller had been building for months. “Parasite” premiered at Cannes in May, unanimously winning the festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or prize, the first in a series of firsts for its filmmaker and for his native South Korea. “My initial thought from the first time I saw it — and then immediately watched it again — was, ‘This could win,’” says Perception PR awards consultant Lea Yardum, whose company ran the “Parasite” campaign. “Roma” won Cuarón Oscars for director and cinematography, but he lost the Oscars’ top prize to a more traditional crowd-pleaser, Peter Farrelly’s dramedy of racial reconciliation, “Green Book.” “Parasite,” likewise, was competing this season against a movie that looked like many previous best picture winners: Sam Mendes’ war drama “1917,” a film honored by the producers and directors guilds. And the thunderous applause that greeted it — and the earlier cheering when the movie’s cast simply walked onstage — was another indication of the passion people felt about “Parasite.” Movies Review: Thrilling and devastating, ‘Parasite’ is one of the year’s very best movies Two very different families collide in Bong Joon Ho’s masterful thriller, which will represent South Korea in this year’s Oscar race.