The Action Scene is a column that explores the construction of action set pieces in order to deepen appreciation for and spark discussion about action cinema.2022 was a standout year for action cinema in terms of the sheer variety and virtuosity of action scenes it gave us. The following article rounds up some of the best. Like last year’s installment, the focus on action scenes—compressed, relatively self-contained displays of action filmmaking craft—means that some otherwise strong action or action-adjacent films didn’t make the cut and a couple of included films are less than compelling beyond their set pieces. All featured movies made their official, non-festival, US theatrical and/or streaming debut in 2022, hence disqualifying otherwise surefire inclusions like Limbo and Good Morning, Sleeping Lion (here’s hoping they get stateside distribution in 2023). For variety’s sake, I’ve limited myself to one scene per film.And now,...
- 1/11/2023
- MUBI
Oscar viewers were treated to a historical moment this year when Bong Joon Ho and his “Parasite” cast took the stage at the Dolby Theater to accept the Academy Award for Best Picture, marking the first time a foreign-language film won the top Oscar prize. “Parasite” cast members Song Kang-ho, Park So-dam, and Lee Sun-kyun were all in attendance at the Oscars, but one part of the ensemble who was not on stage was 10-year-old child actor Jeong Hyeon-jun. Jeong was watching the Oscars from home in South Korea, and fortunately Jeong’s family members recorded him losing his mind as “Parasite” earned one history-making Oscar win after another.
“I thought it would be awesome to get it, and we actually won the award!” Jeong told the Associated Press in a video interview from home the day of the Oscars. “So I am wondering if I am in heaven. I...
“I thought it would be awesome to get it, and we actually won the award!” Jeong told the Associated Press in a video interview from home the day of the Oscars. “So I am wondering if I am in heaven. I...
- 2/19/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
With no plan, nothing goes wrong.
Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite is an extravagant tale of swashbuckling swindling and paralyzing division. Precisely stirred and boiled, the spectacle and captivation behind its story is that we, as spectators, never get a whiff of what’s cooking in the other room. What starts off as biting satire – probing at class politics with the gleeful antics of a poor family leeching themselves onto the fruit of a rich one – furtively evolves into a blend of monstrosities and hellfire, until finally hurtling us into an ocean of organic bloodshed. The journey is so frantically pleasant that any attempt to synthesize it without getting into the nitty-gritty of its sharp twists and turns feels dishonorable. But believe me, this is one of the best movies of the year.
Kim Ki-woo (Train to Busan’s Woo-sik Choi) and his family are living on the edge of poverty in Seoul.
Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite is an extravagant tale of swashbuckling swindling and paralyzing division. Precisely stirred and boiled, the spectacle and captivation behind its story is that we, as spectators, never get a whiff of what’s cooking in the other room. What starts off as biting satire – probing at class politics with the gleeful antics of a poor family leeching themselves onto the fruit of a rich one – furtively evolves into a blend of monstrosities and hellfire, until finally hurtling us into an ocean of organic bloodshed. The journey is so frantically pleasant that any attempt to synthesize it without getting into the nitty-gritty of its sharp twists and turns feels dishonorable. But believe me, this is one of the best movies of the year.
Kim Ki-woo (Train to Busan’s Woo-sik Choi) and his family are living on the edge of poverty in Seoul.
- 10/19/2019
- by Luke Parker
- We Got This Covered
A laugh turns into a snarl which gets stuck in the throat like a sob — or an arrow through the neck — in Bong Joon-ho’s latest wild, wild ride, “Parasite.” On paper, that might not sound so very different from the experience of watching Bong’s “Snowpiercer,” “Memories of Murder” “The Host” or “Okja.” The Korean trickster god is above all known for his uncategorizable movie melées which tumble bloodily down the genre stairs hitting every step — comedy, horror, drama, social commentary, slasher, creature feature, murder mystery, manifesto for vegetarianism — on the way. But while “Parasite” certainly cycles through more than half that list, the laugh is darker, the snarl more vicious and the sob more despairing than we’ve ever had from him before. Bong is back and on brilliant form, but he is unmistakably, roaringly furious, and it registers because the target is so deserving, so enormous, so...
- 5/21/2019
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Bong Joon-ho, the sui generis South Korean auteur behind unclassifiable modern wonders like “Barking Dogs Never Bite” and “The Host,” has always made films that refuse to fit the narrow parameters of any particular genre. Each of them is built atop a bedrock of comic violence that Bong uses to support the weight of the heavy stories he places on top of it, but simply categorizing “Snowpiercer” as science-fiction or “Memories of Murder” as a mystery would require you to ignore the rare magic that holds them together, and deny the controlled instability that allows them to keep changing shape before your eyes.
The director refers to his furious and fiendishly well-crafted new film as a “family tragicomedy,” but the best thing about “Parasite” is that it gives us permission to stop trying to sort his movies into any sort of pre-existing taxonomy — with “Parasite,” Bong finally becomes a genre unto himself.
The director refers to his furious and fiendishly well-crafted new film as a “family tragicomedy,” but the best thing about “Parasite” is that it gives us permission to stop trying to sort his movies into any sort of pre-existing taxonomy — with “Parasite,” Bong finally becomes a genre unto himself.
- 5/21/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Bong Joon-ho’s bizarre black comedy about a rich Korean family and a poor one in a modern-day Downton Abbey situation gets its tendrils in you
Bong Joon-ho has returned to Cannes with a luxuriously watchable and satirical suspense drama. It runs as purringly smooth as the Mercedes driven by the lead character, played by Korean star Song Kang-ho. Parasite is a bizarre black comedy about social status, aspiration, materialism and the patriarchal family unit, and people who accept the idea of having (or leasing) a servant class.
Parasite is about a wealthy Korean family in a modern-day Downton Abbey upstairs-downstairs situation, one far more unstable than the patrician caste realises. The film could perhaps be a bit more lean and mean, and deliver its jeopardy and payoff with more despatch. But it is an enjoyable, elegant, scabrous movie about a mix of servitude and trickery that is an interesting theme in Korean cinema.
Bong Joon-ho has returned to Cannes with a luxuriously watchable and satirical suspense drama. It runs as purringly smooth as the Mercedes driven by the lead character, played by Korean star Song Kang-ho. Parasite is a bizarre black comedy about social status, aspiration, materialism and the patriarchal family unit, and people who accept the idea of having (or leasing) a servant class.
Parasite is about a wealthy Korean family in a modern-day Downton Abbey upstairs-downstairs situation, one far more unstable than the patrician caste realises. The film could perhaps be a bit more lean and mean, and deliver its jeopardy and payoff with more despatch. But it is an enjoyable, elegant, scabrous movie about a mix of servitude and trickery that is an interesting theme in Korean cinema.
- 5/21/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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