Flowers in Hell: A Korean Cinema Retrospective

Overview

When you're celebrating Korean cinema for three months, as the Art Gallery of New South Wales is from July–October, how many Bong Joon-ho movies do you program? Every film curator would love to show every title that the Oscar-winning director has made, but that'd only showcase a fraction of the stunning flicks that the nation has gifted viewers. So, at Flowers in Hell: A Korean Cinema Retrospective, three of Bong's works have made the cut: Parasite, of course, alongside 2003's exceptional murder-mystery Memories of Murder and 2009's maternal portrait Mother.

Because this film season is unfurling its wares in chronological order, Bong's trio of inclusions come at the end. Before then, as the showcase runs from Wednesday, July 19–Sunday, October 22, awaits a treasure trove of standout films. Movies from seven-plus decades of cinema are on the lineup, with more than 20 getting a-flickering — each one free to attend.

1949's A Hometown in Heart kicks off the program, giving audiences a rare glimpse of a surviving film from the era. Next comes 1958's The Flower in Hell, starring Choi Eun-hee and directed by her husband Shin Sang-ok. When the lineup hits the 60s, don't miss lusty thriller The Housemaid — it's a masterpiece in its own right, and also influenced Parasite.

Other must-sees include Lee Chang-dong's Peppermint Candy from 1999, decades before recent hit Burning; two Hong Sang-soo titles, with the prolific filmmaker's In Another Country and Claire's Camera both starring incomparable French actor Isabelle Huppert (EO); and a Park Chan-wook triple. If you haven't seen the Decision to Leave director's Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance, aka The Vengeance Trilogy, on a big screen, this is your hammer-swinging chance.

Films screen at 2pm on Wednesdays and Sundays, and also at 7.15pm on Wednesday evenings — and some have multiple sessions, while others only pop up once.