Snowpiercer

If you didn’t know the chronology, you might think Snowpiercer was the film Bong Joon Ho made after Parasite. It’s bigger in scale and ambition and features an International cast of big names who were probably all excited to work with the acclaimed filmmaker. The story takes a lot of ideas, big and small, and crams them into a metaphorical situation where you’re asked not to think about things too hard because it’s not going to explain the clockwork mechanisms. It is however going to take you on quite a ride, one where you can’t predict what or who lies in the next compartment. (Much credit to the Production Designer.) One of the few stories that thrives best on the kind of clashing of moods and genres that South Korean cinema is known for.

Snowpiercer is also one of the MOST International films ever made. Based on a French graphic novel, produced in South Korea and filmed in the Czech Republic, where the main set was a hundred meter replica of train that would be redressed as the various compartments. The cast includes Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Song Kang-ho, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Jamie Bell, Ewen Bremner and Ed Harris.  With such an eclectic cast, the film was a hit worldwide, but not in the U.S. because Bong clashed with Harvey Weinstein, who wanted a different cut of the film. (Weinstein is often listed as a Producer because that was his title at Miramax, but he was not a Producer on this film, only the person who paid for distribution rights.) The film received a tiny theatrical release in the states and found its audience through VOD.