[줌인]’Buttercup’, blocked by a 1-inch barrier, only to be nominated for the’Foreign Language Film Awards’… Will’Parasite’ Glory Reappear?

[이데일리 스타in 박미애 기자] “If you cross the barrier of 1 inch subtitles, you can enjoy a lot more movies.” This is a testimony left by director Bong Joon-ho in January of last year after winning the Golden Globe Award for Foreign Language Film for the first time in Korean film for’Parasite’. His words were spoken out loud, evoking the meaning of respect and inclusion for non-English-speaking films and culture.

A year has passed since then, but the ‘1 inch barrier’ (subtitle) is still high. Even in that situation, a movie with Korean actors as the protagonist and Korean as the main character was once again nominated for Golden Globes. This is’Minari’ by director Isaak Jeong, depicting the sorrows of a family of Korean immigrants.

‘Buttercup’ was nominated for a foreign language film award at the 78th Golden Globe Awards, announced on the 3rd (US time). ‘Buttercup’ is a Danish’Another Round’, a French-Guatemalan joint’La Yorona’, an Italian’A Life Before You’ (The Life Ahead), an American-French joint’Two of Us’ and a foreign language film award. The contention spreads over.

In the United States, which is considered the world’s largest film market, it is worth saying that it is a feat to be nominated at the Golden Globe, one of the two major film awards with the Academy. However, the nomination of’Minari’ is being criticized by the local media. This is because he was not nominated for other categories such as the Best Director Award, Screenplay Award, and Acting Award. As such, the workability and completeness of’Minari’ are highly evaluated in the United States.

In fact,’Buttercup’ attracted attention at the Sundance Film Festival, one of the world’s best independent film festivals, and won many awards from the Critics Association in the United States. In an article titled ’11 puzzled Golden Globe nominees-what should be nominated instead’, Time, an influential US magazine, said, “It is not surprising that’Minari’ did not get nominated for the best work because of Golden Globe’s unique rules-which are also voted by foreign journalists. Meanwhile, he pointed out that it was curious that he was excluded from all other categories except for foreign language film awards, raising the screenplay of director Isaak Jeong and the acting of Yeo-jung Yoon.

Local media especially pointed out that major cast members, such as Yoon Yeo-jung, who achieved 20 Best Supporting Actress Awards at the Critics Association Award, and Stephen Yeon, who received three Best Actor Awards, were not nominated. The New York Times said, “The cast of’Minari’ deserved to be nominated for an actor, but didn’t receive any.” The LA Times also expressed regret. Variety regretted that Stephen Yeon was not nominated for the Best Actor Award, and mocked that “HFPA (Hollywood Foreign Journalists Association) made a bizarre decision to compete for the American film’Minari’ in foreign language film awards.”

Golden Globe has a rule to classify films as foreign languages ​​if more than 50% of the films are used in a language other than English. Because of this,’Parasite’ was not nominated for the Best Film Awards last year, and it was criticized for being racist because it was said that’Buttercup’ would be classified as a foreign language film nomination, not this year’s Best Picture.

Film critic Yoon Seong said, “HFPA, which is in charge of Golden Globe, is a gathering of multinational reporters. Looking at it, it seems to be a willingness to walk an independent line with the Academy.” He said, “The Academy is making efforts for renewal, such as changing the name of the Foreign Language Film Awards to the International Feature Awards, and adding diversity conditions in the regulations for the film awards. Last year, the result was different from the Golden Globe, but it is questionable whether the Golden Globe can be viewed as an’academy outpost’.”

‘Parasite’ was not nominated for the Best Film Award at the Golden Globe and won the Foreign Language Film Award, and at the Academy Awards followed by the Best Director Award, the Best Screenplay Award, the International Feature Award, won four awards, rewriting the history of Korean cinema. Interest is drawing on whether’Buttercup’ will continue the glory of’Parasite’ with the Golden Globe award. ‘Minari’ won the Jury Award and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and has emerged as the Academy’s Dark Horse by being selected as one of the top 10 films of the American Film Institute (AFI), which is evaluated by a number of media and’Academy Awards Preview’.

‘Buttercup’ tells the story of a Korean family who moved to Arkansas in the southern United States, dreaming of an American dream in the 1980s. The film explores the reality of immigrants by depicting the frustrations that the Jacob (played by Stephen Yeon) family faces in the process of planting a farm and the resulting discord. In addition to Steve Yeon, known as’The Walking Dead’ and’Burning’, Han Ye-ri and Yoon Ye-jeong appear. In Korea, it is scheduled to be released on the 3rd of next month.

The 78th Golden Globe Awards will be held on the 28th.

(Photo = Golden Globe Awards Homepage)