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‘Parasite’, South Korean comedy about class rage, wins Cannes gold

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"Parasite", a black comedy about a family of clever scammers from South Korea's underclass, won the Palme d'Or top prize at Cannes on Saturday, the first time a Korean director has scooped the coveted award in the film festival's 72-year history.

Bong Joon-ho, 49, best known for daring arthouse hits including "Okja" and "Snowpiercer", won for a satire which critics said powerfully tapped into the tensions caused by the widening gap between rich and poor around the world.

Accepting the prize from French movie legend Catherine Deneuve, Bong said winning at Cannes had been a lifelong dream.

Despite some of his strongest reviews in years  Quentin Tarantino failed to win anything for
Despite some of his strongest reviews in years, Quentin Tarantino failed to win anything for "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood"
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

"I was a little boy who was crazy about cinema since I was 12 years old," Bong said, hoisting the palm-frond statuette in the air.

"Parasite" is the second Asian film in a row to triumph at the world's biggest film festival.

It tapped into similar themes explored by last year's winner, "Shoplifters" by Hirokazu Kore-eda about a family of small-time crooks, which shone a light on Japan's hidden poor.

An emotional Banderas said his best actor award was the first major prize of his 40-year career. 
An emotional Banderas said his best actor award was the first major prize of his 40-year career. 
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

Despite some of his strongest reviews in years, Quentin Tarantino failed to win anything for "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood", which brought together two of Tinseltown's most dashing leading men, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, for the first time.

The first black woman to compete for Cannes' top prize, Mati Diop, was runner-up for "Atlantics", a chilling ghost story about Senegalese migrants dying at sea.

Antonio Banderas got the best actor award for Pedro Almodovar's "Pain and Glory", a loosely autobiographical picture based on the director's colourful life.

French actress and film director Mati Diop became the first black woman to compete for Cannes top pr...
French actress and film director Mati Diop became the first black woman to compete for Cannes top prize, and walked away with the Grand Prix award for her film 'Atlantics'
Valery HACHE, AFP

An emotional Banderas said it was the first major prize of his 40-year career.

"I respect him, I admire him, I love him, he's my mentor and he's given me so much," he said of Almodovar, who cast the actor in eight films and helped make him a global box office draw.

"This award has to be dedicated to him," he added.

- 'Dark and difficult times' -

Belgium's Dardenne brothers, two-time winners of the Palme d'Or, clinched the best director gong for "Young Ahmed" about a teenage boy who falls under the influence of an Islamist hate preacher.

The Dardenne brothers  already Cannes legends  with two Palme d'Or prizes under their belt  add...
The Dardenne brothers, already Cannes legends, with two Palme d'Or prizes under their belt, added to their tally on Saturday with the best director award for their story of a radicalised Muslim youth, "Young Ahmed"
LOIC VENANCE, AFP

Jean-Pierre Dardenne said the movie offered an ultimately optimistic vision "in these dark and difficult times with identitarian populism on the rise".

Britain's Emily Beecham won best actress for "Little Joe", a feminist sci-fi thriller by Austrian director Jessica Hausner about the mysterious powers of a bio-engineered plant.

President of the jury Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said they selected films that tapped into the zeit...
President of the jury Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said they selected films that tapped into the zeitgeist of a fraught era
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

The third-place jury prize was shared by the gritty French police drama "Les Miserables" and Brazil's "Nighthawk", a darkly satirical Western seen as a searing indictment of life under the country's far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Best screenplay went to France's Celine Sciamma, one of four women in competition, for "Portrait of a Woman on Fire", a lushly subversive lesbian love story set in the 18th century.

- 'Worries, nightmares' -

Many critics loved Tarantino's rollicking odyssey through the Los Angeles of 1969 in the period leading up to the Manson family murders, particularly Pitt's performance as a hoary stuntman.

US actress Elle Fanning was the youngest member of the jury led by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzal...
US actress Elle Fanning was the youngest member of the jury led by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

However the director -- who won the Palme d'Or 25 years ago for "Pulp Fiction" -- collected the Palm Dog prize Friday for Cannes' best canine performance, joking, "At least I do not go home empty-handed".

The Camera d'Or for best first feature film went to Guatemala's Cesar Diaz for "Our Mothers", a drama about those "disappeared" during the country's brutal civil war.

US actor Sylvester Stallone was honoured at a black-tie dinner  kicking off the build up to the rele...
US actor Sylvester Stallone was honoured at a black-tie dinner, kicking off the build up to the release of "Rambo V" in September
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

The jury gave a special mention to Palestinian film-maker Elia Suleiman's "It Must Be Heaven" about the experiences of an exile who goes on a meandering odyssey from his hometown of Nazareth to the streets of Paris and New York.

British actress Emily Beecham who won best actress shows off her award with other winners
British actress Emily Beecham who won best actress shows off her award with other winners
CHRISTOPHE SIMON, AFP

This year's jury president, Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of "Birdman" and "The Revenant" fame, said they selected films among the 21 contenders that tapped into the zeitgeist of a fraught era.

"These artists are visionaries who are... expressing those worries and frustrations, those nightmares," he said.

"Cinema now has the urgency of social consciousness expressed by people around the world."

- 'Devastating electric shock' -

"Parasite" tells the story of a young man living in a squalid apartment with his family who is struggling in Seoul's gig economy.

South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho received the Palme d'Or from French film legend Catherine De...
South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho received the Palme d'Or from French film legend Catherine Deneuve
CHRISTOPHE SIMON, AFP

Without formal qualifications, he charms his way into a job with a wealthy family, tutoring their precocious daughter in English.

Soon the tutor's parents and sister also manage to insinuate themselves into the household of the blithely privileged clan living in a luxury home high above the flood plain.

Variety critic Jessica Kiang called the film "roaringly furious".

"'Parasite' is a tick fat with the bitter blood of class rage," she said.

US movie website Indiewire called it a "brilliant and devastating electric shock of economic anxiety" and a "compassionate parable about how society can only be as strong as its most vulnerable people."

“Parasite”, a black comedy about a family of clever scammers from South Korea’s underclass, won the Palme d’Or top prize at Cannes on Saturday, the first time a Korean director has scooped the coveted award in the film festival’s 72-year history.

Bong Joon-ho, 49, best known for daring arthouse hits including “Okja” and “Snowpiercer”, won for a satire which critics said powerfully tapped into the tensions caused by the widening gap between rich and poor around the world.

Accepting the prize from French movie legend Catherine Deneuve, Bong said winning at Cannes had been a lifelong dream.

Despite some of his strongest reviews in years  Quentin Tarantino failed to win anything for

Despite some of his strongest reviews in years, Quentin Tarantino failed to win anything for “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

“I was a little boy who was crazy about cinema since I was 12 years old,” Bong said, hoisting the palm-frond statuette in the air.

“Parasite” is the second Asian film in a row to triumph at the world’s biggest film festival.

It tapped into similar themes explored by last year’s winner, “Shoplifters” by Hirokazu Kore-eda about a family of small-time crooks, which shone a light on Japan’s hidden poor.

An emotional Banderas said his best actor award was the first major prize of his 40-year career. 

An emotional Banderas said his best actor award was the first major prize of his 40-year career. 
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

Despite some of his strongest reviews in years, Quentin Tarantino failed to win anything for “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”, which brought together two of Tinseltown’s most dashing leading men, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, for the first time.

The first black woman to compete for Cannes’ top prize, Mati Diop, was runner-up for “Atlantics”, a chilling ghost story about Senegalese migrants dying at sea.

Antonio Banderas got the best actor award for Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory”, a loosely autobiographical picture based on the director’s colourful life.

French actress and film director Mati Diop became the first black woman to compete for Cannes top pr...

French actress and film director Mati Diop became the first black woman to compete for Cannes top prize, and walked away with the Grand Prix award for her film 'Atlantics'
Valery HACHE, AFP

An emotional Banderas said it was the first major prize of his 40-year career.

“I respect him, I admire him, I love him, he’s my mentor and he’s given me so much,” he said of Almodovar, who cast the actor in eight films and helped make him a global box office draw.

“This award has to be dedicated to him,” he added.

– ‘Dark and difficult times’ –

Belgium’s Dardenne brothers, two-time winners of the Palme d’Or, clinched the best director gong for “Young Ahmed” about a teenage boy who falls under the influence of an Islamist hate preacher.

The Dardenne brothers  already Cannes legends  with two Palme d'Or prizes under their belt  add...

The Dardenne brothers, already Cannes legends, with two Palme d'Or prizes under their belt, added to their tally on Saturday with the best director award for their story of a radicalised Muslim youth, “Young Ahmed”
LOIC VENANCE, AFP

Jean-Pierre Dardenne said the movie offered an ultimately optimistic vision “in these dark and difficult times with identitarian populism on the rise”.

Britain’s Emily Beecham won best actress for “Little Joe”, a feminist sci-fi thriller by Austrian director Jessica Hausner about the mysterious powers of a bio-engineered plant.

President of the jury Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said they selected films that tapped into the zeit...

President of the jury Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu said they selected films that tapped into the zeitgeist of a fraught era
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

The third-place jury prize was shared by the gritty French police drama “Les Miserables” and Brazil’s “Nighthawk”, a darkly satirical Western seen as a searing indictment of life under the country’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

Best screenplay went to France’s Celine Sciamma, one of four women in competition, for “Portrait of a Woman on Fire”, a lushly subversive lesbian love story set in the 18th century.

– ‘Worries, nightmares’ –

Many critics loved Tarantino’s rollicking odyssey through the Los Angeles of 1969 in the period leading up to the Manson family murders, particularly Pitt’s performance as a hoary stuntman.

US actress Elle Fanning was the youngest member of the jury led by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzal...

US actress Elle Fanning was the youngest member of the jury led by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

However the director — who won the Palme d’Or 25 years ago for “Pulp Fiction” — collected the Palm Dog prize Friday for Cannes’ best canine performance, joking, “At least I do not go home empty-handed”.

The Camera d’Or for best first feature film went to Guatemala’s Cesar Diaz for “Our Mothers”, a drama about those “disappeared” during the country’s brutal civil war.

US actor Sylvester Stallone was honoured at a black-tie dinner  kicking off the build up to the rele...

US actor Sylvester Stallone was honoured at a black-tie dinner, kicking off the build up to the release of “Rambo V” in September
Alberto PIZZOLI, AFP

The jury gave a special mention to Palestinian film-maker Elia Suleiman’s “It Must Be Heaven” about the experiences of an exile who goes on a meandering odyssey from his hometown of Nazareth to the streets of Paris and New York.

British actress Emily Beecham who won best actress shows off her award with other winners

British actress Emily Beecham who won best actress shows off her award with other winners
CHRISTOPHE SIMON, AFP

This year’s jury president, Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu of “Birdman” and “The Revenant” fame, said they selected films among the 21 contenders that tapped into the zeitgeist of a fraught era.

“These artists are visionaries who are… expressing those worries and frustrations, those nightmares,” he said.

“Cinema now has the urgency of social consciousness expressed by people around the world.”

– ‘Devastating electric shock’ –

“Parasite” tells the story of a young man living in a squalid apartment with his family who is struggling in Seoul’s gig economy.

South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho received the Palme d'Or from French film legend Catherine De...

South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho received the Palme d'Or from French film legend Catherine Deneuve
CHRISTOPHE SIMON, AFP

Without formal qualifications, he charms his way into a job with a wealthy family, tutoring their precocious daughter in English.

Soon the tutor’s parents and sister also manage to insinuate themselves into the household of the blithely privileged clan living in a luxury home high above the flood plain.

Variety critic Jessica Kiang called the film “roaringly furious”.

“‘Parasite’ is a tick fat with the bitter blood of class rage,” she said.

US movie website Indiewire called it a “brilliant and devastating electric shock of economic anxiety” and a “compassionate parable about how society can only be as strong as its most vulnerable people.”

AFP
Written By

With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

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