A Black and White Version of ‘Parasite’ Is Coming to Theaters
There’s really no other movie like Parasite. Bong Joon-ho weaves together themes of family ties, class, and greed with masterful technique. Parasite unfolds in ways you never thought possible, and something new can be observed upon every watch. See Parasite with a group of friends and you’ll notice that you all picked up on different blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details. It’s the cinematic gift that keeps on giving, and now Bong Joon-ho has announced that the Oscar-nominated film will make a special appearance in New York and Los Angeles, this time in black and white.
Bong Joon-ho didn’t make this decision on a whim. Turns out he’s been preparing the black and white version of Parasite since before the film debuted at Cannes Film Festival. Why the urge to desaturate the movie? According to Deadline, Bong Joon-ho, creating a black and white film has been a life-long dream:
Although I became a filmmaker in the 2000s, I idealize the beautiful black and white films by Renoir, Fellini, Kurosawa, John Ford, and the beautiful cinematography of Gregg Toland. I always had this desire to create a black and white film which was shared by my cinematographer Hong Kyung Pyo… I’m extremely happy to present Parasite in black and white and have it play on the big screen. It will be fascinating to see how the viewing experience changes when an identical film is presented in black and white.
He goes on to share that he has viewed the film in black and white twice now, and finds that “at times the film felt more like a fable” and gave him a strange feeling that he was “watching a story from old times.”
Sound tantalizing? The special version of Parasite will be presented by the Los Angeles Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater on Friday, January 31. On the East Coast, it will play in New York City at Walter Reade Theater on January 30, and then again from January 31 to February 6 at the Francesca Beale Theater.
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