There are certain films that, when it comes to auteur directors, double as entry points for newcomers. In most cases, they tend to be the movies which acted as breakout films for their directors, the ones that announced to American popular culture at large that they’re a force to be reckoned with. For South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon Ho, that film is unequivocally “Parasite,” which took the United States by storm upon its release in May of 2019. The movie rode a wave of positive word-of-mouth all the way to the 92nd Academy Awards, whereupon it was nominated for six Oscars and won four, including Best Picture, making it the first ever non-English language movie to obtain that honor. Within the space of a year, Director Bong went from being someone known mostly within cinephile circles to a household name.
As a result of the runaway success of “Parasite,” Bong Joon Ho was given what most filmmakers who win both Best Picture and Best Director receive, which is effectively the ability to make a blank check movie as their next project. That film turns out to be this month’s “Mickey 17,” and to those who have only recently become familiar with Director Bong through “Parasite,” it may seem like a particularly bizarre follow-up. On a visual and narrative level, “Mickey 17” is an absolutely unwavering science-fiction film filled with spaceships, future technology (complete with technobabble exposition), and outrageous creatures. As such, for those who’ve only seen “Parasite,” the curve of relatability in “Mickey 17” may be pretty steep, enough that it could rattle you. However, the film bears a ton of Director Bong’s signature touches, acting as almost a culmination of his entire filmography thus far. So for those who decide to make the leap directly from “Parasite” to “Mickey 17,” the experience could end up that much more rewarding and illuminating.
‘Mickey 17’ continues and expands discussions of class and capitalism begun in ‘Parasite’
I was lucky enough to see an early screening of “Mickey 17” in Los Angeles, and the word I heard the most amongst my fellow attendees afterward was “weird.” Yes, “Mickey 17” isn’t the easiest premise to swallow, even if you’re already a sci-fi fan. Based on the 2022 novel “Mickey7” by Edward Ashton, the story concerns Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), a down on his luck man who is being chased by a loan shark on an Earth which is growing increasingly uninhabitable. Looking to join a colonizing expedition as quickly as possible, Mickey blindly signs up for duty as an “Expendable,” which means that he’ll be donating his body to science … in perpetuity, for every time he dies, he’s immediately reprinted at the age he perished with all his memories intact. In addition to this already wacky premise, Director Bong adds in a thinly veiled amalgam analogue for some of our past (and, sadly, current) unscrupulous political figures in the character of Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), a sociological and ecological crisis that develops once the human colonists land on their new home of Nilfheim and discover an indeginous species there that they dub Creepers, and the complications of Mickey finding himself existing in two places at once after he’s left for dead but fails to actually die.
That’s admittedly a lot to take in, and for those not already genre-pilled, it could be too weird (there’s that word again). While “Mickey 17” has all these sci-fi trappings that might repel those who more easily locked into “Parasite’s” relatable class parable, it nonetheless tells just as rich and compelling an allegory. The theme of class disparity in an oppressive capitalist society is suffused throughout “Mickey 17,” seen in everything from Mickey’s Expendable plight to the embarrassing and demoralizing positions other members of the spacecraft are forced to fulfill (including one supporter of Marshall who has to spend all his time wearing a bird costume). If you loved “Parasite” for its social commentary, you’ll find an abundance of riches within “Mickey 17.” You just need to learn to love the Creepers, and fortunately, that’s not a huge ask, because they’re adorable!
There’s a little bit of several Director Bong films in ‘Mickey 17’
If the only Director Bong film you’ve seen is “Parasite,” then you have some really great cinema to discover ahead of you, especially if you end up digging “Mickey 17.” In addition to the film containing a good amount of the thematic DNA of “Parasite” in it, there are also a number of elements from several other previous Bong Joon Ho films that can be found throughout the movie. Chief among these is material from his two other English language features to date, 2013’s “Snowpiercer” and 2017’s “Okja.” In the former, Director Bong adapts a French sci-fi graphic novel, a story about a future where the Earth has been so ravaged after a disastrous attempt to solve climate change that everything has frozen over, leaving the last remnants of the human race to endlessly circle the globe on a perpetually moving train called Snowpiercer. Like “Mickey 17” and “Parasite,” “Snowpiercer” uses visual iconography to delineate its characters by their class, with the poor passengers at the back of the train literally fighting their way to the front.
Meanwhile, in “Okja,” Director Bong depicts an alternate present day where scientists have devised a way to breed a “super pig,” a creature which is intended to serve as a new, superior food source. Unfortunately, the scourge of capitalism rears its ugly head again, with the unscrupulous Mirando Corporation making a point out of mistreating these animals (including the titular super pig), leading to an activist group attempting to rescue the creatures. This concept makes a return in “Mickey 17” thanks to Marshall’s wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), becoming obsessed with slaughtering the Creepers and using their tails to make various gourmet sauces. Speaking of the Creepers, there are echoes of Director Bong’s 2006 film “The Host” in them as well, insofar as they’re kaiju-like creatures who perhaps aren’t necessarily the actual (or only) monsters around.
Ultimately, though, if “Mickey 17” ends up rattling you, that’s probably a good thing. There’s no better way to expand your artistic horizons than a good rattling, because it’s the kind of experience which ends up sticking with you for a long while. More often than not, you’ll find that having your expectations upended and boundaries pushed (again, artistically) will only deepen your interests and tastes, leading you to new places you may not have gone to before. Whether those places are other dystopian sci-fi films, the rest of Director Bong’s work, or some combination of the two, then “Mickey 17” might be a whole new gateway film for you and hundreds of others. To paraphrase John Lennon: all we are saying is give Mickey a chance.
Source link
