Bong Joon Ho’s early love for cinema is on full display in the Netflix documentary “Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Film Club.”
The history-making “Parasite” Oscar winner reunites with fellow Yellow Door film club member, director Lee Hyuk-rae, to revisit their shared roots.
“We were the first cinephile generation,” Bong says in the trailer. “The student movement was over, and we didn’t know what to do next. That’s how we came to Yellow Door.”
From musing over the “rigid format” of “The Godfather” to sharing Bong’s early stop-motion film “Looking for Paradise,” the Yellow Door Club kicked off the golden era of Korean filmmakers.
Per the official synopsis, the 1990s witnessed an explosion of film clubs on Korean campuses, providing young students with a creative outlet and a platform to study the art of cinema. Yellow Door Film Club was one of them. Back in 1993, a fresh-faced Bong was an integral part of this gathering of film aficionados, and he meticulously managed the club’s video library of cinematic masterpieces from around the world. These film club members also reminisce about the young Bong, who obsessively took care of Yellow Door’s greatest asset — its video library. These fragmented recollections recreate an era of cinephiles and the start of Bong’s adventures as a filmmaker.
Bong called “Looking for Paradise” his first narrative work of any kind. While Bong’s short film “White Man” is generally believed to be his first, the stop-motion animated short “Looking for Paradise” predates the 1994 film. The 22-minute short was screened for the 10 members of Yellow Door on Christmas Day 1992 and has never been seen since — until this documentary, per Netflix.
“Yellow Door” is set to make its world premiere in the 28th Busan International Film Festival’s Wide Angle: Documentary Showcase Section. The film is produced by Broccoli Pictures Co.
Next for Bong is “Mickey 17,” an adaptation of a sci-fi novel centered on a disposable government official played by Robert Pattinson, who is sent to colonize a new planet. Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo also star.
“Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Film Club” premieres October 27 on Netflix. Check out the trailer below.
