He may be cute and charming when he’s talking about movies, but when making them, Director Bong goes to some pretty dark places. Whether it’s strange aquatic monsters, brutal and bloody murder cases, or dystopian train rides, the Korean filmmaker has given us ample opportunity over the years to dissect and decipher our place in society through his work.
As far as foreign language directors go, there are few as popular – or indeed as talented – as Bong Joon-ho. After dominating the Oscars with Parasite in 2020, he returned in 2025 with the long-awaited Mickey 17. So, as his career goes from strength to strength, it’s time to crown the best Bong Joon-ho movie of them all.
For this list, we decided not to include two films, Tokyo and Digital Short Films by Three Filmmakers 2004, as even though they’re technically included in his filmography, Director Bong merely directed segments of these two anthology films, and as such, we’re not going to count them in this collection of feature-length projects. You’ll find eight of those below, ranked in ascending order.
8. Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000)
Debut feature films are hard. Very few filmmakers get them right, and sadly, not even the great Bong Joon-ho could do much with his first effort. The most interesting thing about Barking Dogs Never Bite is its creative title, which says all you need to know about the quality of this one. Maybe that was harsh – it’s not necessarily a bad film, but it is painfully raw and rough around the edges.
It’s also guilty of the worst crime you can commit in film, which is that it’s immediately forgettable and not all that engaging. While Bong’s later work is imbued with a comical and clever cynicism, Barking Dogs Never Bite feels cold and cruel for the sake of it. Completionists can tick it off their list pretty easily, though: it’s fairly short and available on BFI Player. But be warned, if you’re sensitive to animal cruelty, don’t watch this one.
7. Mickey 17 (2025)
There were such high hopes for Bong Joon-ho’s follow-up to Parasite, especially when it was announced that Robert Pattinson would lead the cast, playing multiple versions of himself. That combo sounds like a dream, but sadly, Mickey 17 struggles tonally and lacks the flair of Bong’s earlier work. It’s not funny enough to be a comedy and it’s not exciting enough to be a thriller, so it ends up being little more than a fairly run-of-the-mill sci-fi. That a Bong Joon-ho picture could ever feel generic is crazy to imagine, but here we are.
While Mickey 17 does look great (the CGI work, in particular, is top drawer) and everyone seems to be having fun on screen (especially Mark Ruffalo), there’s a predictability to the story that drains the excitement out of the experience. At the time of writing, you’ll have to pay to rent this, and I wouldn’t recommend doing so other than to make your own mind up.
6. The Host (2006)
If you think a monster movie from Bong Joon-ho sounds like fun, you’d be absolutely right. The Host is an ambitious, bombastic, brilliant take on a tried-and-tested subgenre. It’s by no means perfect, but you have to admire the absurdity and technical creativity on show to bring this semi-horror sci-fi to life.
In many ways, this is Bong at his playful best. The film itself has its weaknesses – severely dated CGI, for one – but diving into this disaster movie is guaranteed to put a smile on your face in its delivery of razor-sharp social commentary around how we as a people may or may not selfishly act in times of crisis. It does have its dark, fairly gruesome moments, too, but that grey area between glee and gloom is where Bong has always thrived. Do yourself a favour: subscribe to Studio Canal and make this your first watch there.
5. Mother (2009)
Right, this is where this list steps up a notch from films you may or may not want or need to watch, to films like Mother, that you simply cannot ignore. In the early to mid-2000s, Bong Joon-ho was crafting far bleaker and more brutal work in his native tongue, and Mother is a fine example of this. Bong puts his audience in detective mode to unravel a deliciously dark mystery, and there’s a real no-holds-barred approach to the depictions of violence he puts on screen here.
It says a lot that this isn’t even his most sadistic and disturbing picture, but there’s something about Bong’s level of attention to every grimy, horrible little detail that gets under your skin. Watch this if you like movies like Psycho, We Need to Talk About Kevin, or The Game. Whether you sign up for Sundance Now and watch it there or pay to rent it, Mother is absolutely worth seeking out at all costs.
4. Okja (2017)
If you prefer Bong’s more fun side, Okja is the perfect hit of that. This Netflix-produced dark comedy is everything Mickey 17 wanted to be, but ended up being far less intriguing than. Between Jake Gyllenhaal hamming it up and the adorable titular creature at the heart of the story, you’ve got a bit of everything in this one, combining chaos and cuteness in a treat for all sensibilities.
Okja is also incredibly emotional – it made me cry, and I never cry! It’s a poignant inspection of mankind’s role in the world and the way we treat other living beings. Think Pete’s Dragon, but with more swearing and harrowing moments, or Princess Mononoke with a little less subtlety. It couldn’t be easier to watch Okja, either; just turn Netflix on and get on with it already!
3. Snowpiercer (2013)
Remember when we said Mother wasn’t the most bleak Bong movie? Well, here it is. Snowpiercer is grim, but it’s absolutely fascinating, and certainly Bong’s finest work in the English language. From the stunning snowy backdrops outside to the shadowy, grimy train carriages within, every inch of Snowpiercer is designed to make you feel claustrophobic and uneasy, fueling its harrowing central story of class hierarchy and a fight for survival.
It’s a very Orwellian tale: Animal Farm, essentially, but with people on a train. And if that doesn’t get you immediately scrambling to sign up to Paramount Plus and pressing play on Snowpiercer, then something is very wrong. Just be warned, if you love Chris Evans as Captain America, get ready for that poster boy image to be tarnished forever with one staggering line delivery – but it’s so worth it.
2. Memories of Murder (2003)
Not many filmmakers could claim that their sophomore feature film is near-perfect, but Bong Joon-ho definitely can. Memories of Murder is a captivating detective thriller story steeped in gruesome, grisly crimes and a cat-and-mouse chase for the ages. All the best aspects of classics like Seven, The Silence of the Lambs, and pretty much anything by Alfred Hitchcock are present here. While it’s not quite as violent or harrowing as I Saw the Devil, it’s pretty damn close.
It’s incredible to think that this effort came just three years after his subpar debut in Barking Dogs Never Bite. In that short space of time, Bong refined every aspect of his filmmaking, expertly guiding the lens, drawing mesmerising performances out of his cast, and threading a narrative so complex and compelling you’ll be absolutely hooked from the first minute to the last.
1. Parasite (2019)
It can be annoying to go for the obvious answer sometimes. But then again, if something is so obvious, it’s for a good reason, and the love that Parasite gets is more than justified. Simply put, there is no way anything else could have taken top spot in this ranking of Bong Joon-ho’s movies. Parasite is rip-roaringly funny, beautifully dark, and so unpredictable that the first time you watch this movie, your jaw will be on the floor by the end. This film deserved every award it won, and then some – it’s genuinely one of the best movies of the modern era.
What’s also brilliant about Parasite is that it’s one of the most easily accessible foreign language movies. If you like the irreverence of Wes Anderson movies, the surrealism of Yorgos Lanthimos, or even the way Quentin Tarantino movies twist and turn and collide, you’ll have a blast with Parasite. It’s so easy to get over that “one-inch barrier” of words on the screen, as Bong put it himself, and it’s so worth it, too. When a story is this universal and wonderfully crafted, you’ll soon forget you’re even reading subtitles. Plus, it’s on Netflix, so it quite literally couldn’t be simpler. Stop making excuses and watch this life-changing movie tonight.
