Upon the film's premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, it became the first South Korean film ever to win the Palme d'Or, as well as the first film since Blue Is the Warmest Color to do so via unanimous vote.
Following its history-making commercial and critical acclaim upon wide release, it became the first film in a non-English language ever to win the Oscar for Best Picturenote The first Best Picture winner from a non-English country, The Artist from France, is a Silent Movie, and its Suddenly Voiced final lines are spoken in English. as well as the first Korean movie to receive any sort of recognition from the Academy Awards.
In addition, it is one of only three films to win both the top prize at Cannes and the Best Picture Oscar, following Marty (64 years prior) and The Lost Weekendnote "Grand Prix" winner.
Trivia Tropes
Acting for Two: In the Japanese dub, Sara Matsumoto voices both Park Da-song and his sister Park Da-hye.
Sky Pizza, the Seoul pizzeria where the Kims worked as box folders, has had a surge in customers because of the movie. The owner herself said the boom in business is crazy since they were running out of pizza dough and waiting times reached over two hours.
Chapagetti and Neogurri sales went up by more than 60% after the movie's Oscar wins. Nongshim has confirmed they're exploring the idea of expanding Chapagetti products in the United States such as instant cup noodles and have already expanded their vast presence in Canada. In fact, Nongshim has released its own Chapguri cup noodle brand that includes the two separate flavors of Chapagetti and Neogurri to make it cheaper for people that don't want to buy both packets of noodles. Those who want to use the non-cup movie version eaten with steak have to still utilize the separate Chapagetti and Neogurri packs, however, and there is no single Chapaguri pack out yet.
The Spanish potato chips company "Bonilla a la vista", whose chips appeared in one scene in the movie, also experienced a surge of popularity and online sales both in Korea and worldwide after the movie's success.
Dawson Casting: At twenty, Jung Ji-so plays the high school-aged Park Da-hye.
Dear Negative Reader: After then-President Donald Trump took time at a rally to criticize the Academy Awards for giving "a movie from South Korea" Best Picture, additionally wishing for the return of "great movies" (and more America-centric ones at that) such as Gone with the Wind and Sunset Boulevard, the film's distributor Neonput out a short response via Twitter that (perhaps jokingly, perhaps not) suggested that Trump was actually upset because he can't read, and as such would have no use for the film's subtitles.
Dueling Dubs: There's three Japanese dubs: One for home video, another for the TV network NTV, and other one for TV Tokyo. The TV Tokyo dub use the same voice cast from the NTV one, except that Kim Ki-woo is voiced by movie actor Ryunosuke Kamiki in the NTV dub, while Kōki Uchiyama voiced him in the TV Tokyo dub. Also, oddly enough, Kazuhiro Yamaji voices Kim Ki-taek in all three dubs.
To Us, as both involve a poor family literally below the ground rising up to face a wealthier family obliviously living off of their suffering. However, that film has a more supernatural execution as opposed to Parasite's realism.
To Joker, as both center around criminal characters, share an anti-capitalist theme, won prestigious festival awards, and were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in the same year. And by the end of Parasite, both films have morally gray protagonists who laugh uncontrollably thanks to mental problems.
Due to being considered an art film outside its native South Korea and the director's stance about dubbing, the film only was released with a dub exclusively in countries when dubbing is mandatory by law, basically Spain, France, Germany and other European countries, being one of the few Korean films when this trope is enforced by its director, and not by the local distributors. Brazil got one in the VOD release - and another for its TV one, the same goes for Japan, since it got a home video dub at 2020, and two TV dubs at 2021.
Likewise and oddly enough, Latin America got a local dub at 2022, but only was shown in TNT's Latin American feed for a brief time, and it only got a streaming release at HBO Max at 2023. The odd part come with the fact that, unlike the European releases, but just like Brazil and Japan, no Latin American country had mandatory dubbing in their countries, except for films and TV series for children, which doesn't apply for this film, of course.
Playing Against Type: Cho Yeo-jeong, who has a glamorous image and made her name with a series of erotic dramas, plays Mrs. Park, a "slightly dorky" Stepford Smiler.
Choi Woo-shik (Ki-woo) had a small role in Okja, while Lee Jeong-eun (Moon-gwang) voiced the titular character.
The Red Stapler: Due to it being featured in a key scene, interest in "ram-don" (actually jjapaguri) with steak blew up online after this movie's release, with the two instant noodle varieties even being combined and sold as a single product.
Sleeper Hit: A dark, genre-defying film festival hot property is not always suited to commercial success. However, this one has been the best-performing film per venue since La La Land in the U.S. box office. It is now the highest-grossing Korean film worldwide.
Typecasting: Song Kang-ho is well-known for playing down-on-their-luck types. When Bong told him about the script and that there was a character written just for him, Song hoped that it would be what became Park Dong-ik in the hopes that he could play a wealthy-and-refined character for once. He was a bit disappointed to learn that Bong had written yet another down-on-their-luck character for him.
According to Bong Joon-ho, via Empire magazine, there are no villains in the film, so the many viewers who find themselves sympathizing with the Kims or Moon-gwang and Geun-se despite their desperation and poverty-induced criminal activity are indeed meant to feel that way.
Bong also confirmed that Ki-woo's Daydream Surprise in the ending is supposed to be, well, just a dream.
Bong Joon-ho: Maybe if the movie ended where they hug and fades out, the audience can imagine, ‘Oh, it’s impossible to buy that house,’ but the camera goes down to that half-basement. It’s quite cruel and sad, but I thought it was being real and honest with the audience. You know and I know — we all know that this kid isn’t going to be able to buy that house. I just felt that frankness was right for the film, even though it’s sad.
Word of Saint Paul: Choi Woo-shik believes that while Ki-woo probably won't be able to buy the house, he will still be able to find a way to rescue his father from the bunker one day.
