In his acceptance speech at the 2020 Oscars, Parasite and Memories of Murder filmmaker Bong Joon-ho commented on the reluctance to consume international films in the US, stating “Once you overcome the 1-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” And though the popularity of Parasite has increased demand for watching more international films in America, our US-centric watching habits still largely inhibit our ability to watch and learn from so many beautiful international films. 

I watched Monster, the latest from Palme d’Or winning Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, at IFF Boston’s Fall Focus last month, in a packed theater. It always thrills me to see a crowded theater eager to see an acclaimed international film, in the same way that theaters will crowd for new American releases and blockbusters. Yet, there is still a false idea that international films are inaccessible to the larger public, and instead are a facet of the pretentious ‘film bro’ persona – a xenophobic idea that international films are something too foreign, strange, and incomprehensible to standard audiences. This has been proven false time and time again, from Parasite to Roma to RRR, and even in older films like Oldboy, La Haine, and In The Mood for Love, to name a few. 

Seeing Parasite for the first time truly changed my life, it awakened in me a deep love for films that will alter you, challenge you, transform you, and put me on an endless adventure throughout international cinema. I will never forget what it was like to experience that for the first time, and I continue to experience it every time I see a film in theaters that I underestimated, that I went in the cold for, that I didn’t expect to blow me away. Monster is a layered, challenging masterpiece confronting our preconceptions and quick assumptions, the complicated relationships and traumas in each of us. It is more than a film: it’s an investigation.

Because this post is about not just Monster, but international films in general, I’d like to take a moment to talk about some of my favorites. Om Shanti Om was the first Bollywood film I ever watched, and I believe it will always be my favorite. The “Deewangi Deewangi” scene was incredible, and the combination of melodrama and movie music is just so brilliant. Cinema Paradiso is a must-watch for any aspiring filmmaker (or ambitious young person). It’s romantic, heart-wrenching, and stunning in rural Italy.

Agnés Varda is indisputably brilliant and essential to understanding cinema as a whole, and my favorite film of hers is most definitely Vagabond. Raw is perhaps the only film to make me truly nauseous (and Titane is brilliant as well). Though not as well known as Oldboy, Thirst is another Park Chan-Wook film that is powerful, jaw-dropping, and incredibly disturbing. And House, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi technically inspired by Jaws, is a Haunted House classic that is brilliant and deeply strange. 

Our art and societies have symbiotic relationships, and what we choose to consume, and the messages it represents, do not exist in a vacuum. If we truly dream of an international future, one based on confronting our past, learning, and changing, then we must begin with our art. Though our work doesn’t end in the movie theater, it can start there. 
Monster opens in theaters everywhere on Friday, December 15. 

Until next Wednesday,

Karenna

Photograph: South China Morning Post