The Greatest Best Picture Winner of the 21st Century Is Leaving Netflix Very Soon

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Lee Sun-kyun as Park Dong-ik (Nathan) talking to a person offscreen in Parasite

Thomas Butt is a senior writer. An avid film connoisseur, Thomas actively logs his film consumption on Letterboxd and vows to connect with many more cinephiles through the platform. He is immensely passionate about the work of Martin Scorsese, John Ford, and Albert Brooks. His work can be read on Collider and Taste of Cinema. He also writes for his own blog, The Empty Theater, on Substack. He is also a big fan of courtroom dramas and DVD commentary tracks. For Thomas, movie theaters are a second home. A native of Wakefield, MA, he is often found scrolling through the scheduled programming on Turner Classic Movies and making more room for his physical media collection. Thomas habitually increases his watchlist and jumps down a YouTube rabbit hole of archived interviews with directors and actors. He is inspired to write about film to uphold the medium's artistic value and to express his undying love for the art form. Thomas looks to cinema as an outlet to better understand the world, human emotions, and himself.

Deliberating over what is the most worthy winner among the vaunted group of Best Picture winners at the Academy Awards is perhaps a foolish process. After all, considering that it is the highest honor a film can receive, you're comparing high-water marks of the medium. In the 21st century, there has been no shortage of exceptional BP winners, from large-scale movies like The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Oppenheimer to grounded indies like The Hurt Locker and Moonlight. If we had to select one winner as the most definitive Oscar player, if not film entirely, of the century, the honor would have to go to Parasite, the first and, as of January 2026, the only foreign language movie to win the top prize. Even beyond its historical pedigree, Bong Joon Ho's masterful black comedy/thriller is a welcome reminder that the medium can still attain perfection.

'Parasite's Impact on the Oscars and the Film Community

For those fortunate enough to experience the twisty and propulsive Parasite for the first time, it is your last chance to stream it on Netflix before it leaves on February 1. Still, regardless of its streaming availability, the 2019 film, which won an additional three Oscars along with Best Picture, will undoubtedly sit at the top of the film canon forever, appearing on countless Sight and Sound ballots for the inevitable future. After winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Parasite became an unlikely phenomenon upon its release throughout the fall of '19, earning a staggering amount of money for an international film and becoming a gateway experience for those wanting to expand their cinematic horizon. As its director said in his Golden Globe acceptance speech, "Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films."

Parasite was the culmination of Bong Joon Ho's work as a filmmaker, primarily operating in South Korea, making pitch-black comedies with biting social messages about the class divide and economic distress of the nation. Already revered among die-hard movie buffs, Parasite launched Bong into the mainstream, a director with a big enough personality to be a guest on late-night talk shows. The film's release drew a clear line of demarcation for the online cinephile world, as its popularity seemingly inspired a whole new wave of vocal movie obsessives (the film is often charted as the most popular movie on Letterboxd). Bong was seminal in raising awareness of foreign cinema, giving it appeal to the mainstream and shedding the taboo that movies with subtitles are inherently "artsy" and inaccessible. Parasite also helped break the glass ceiling for the Oscars' awareness of affairs outside the United States. Now, it's expected for multiple international films to be recognized.

'Parasite' is a Brilliant Masterclass in Artistic Expression and Popular Entertainment

In many ways, Parasite is the ultimate cinematic experience—the rare cross between a highbrow auteur's meticulous artistic vision and a crowd-pleasing blast of sheer entertainment. Something with as much thematic depth and biting commentary as this should not be so riveting as genre entertainment, but Bong, who used the template of a detective drama in Memories of Murder and a monster movie in The Host to examine raw undercurrents of the human and societal condition, just has a special touch, and the pop sentiments never undermine its unflinching text. The film pushed the medium forward with its awe-inspiring production design, tonal modulation, and pacing, but it also captured a sense of classic Hollywood wonder in its craft and execution. The film is designed to make you fall in love with the art of filmmaking with the energy of Casablanca or Singin' in the Rain.

The film's most renowned attribute, sharp tonal shifts, was the calling card of both Bong and South Korean cinema. This component enhanced the experience for film scholars and everyday consumers, who were enthralled by this roller-coaster ride that begins as a satire about the oblivious upper-class and ends as a nerve-wracking Hitchcockian thriller marked by dread and angst. Amid all the auteurist flourishes and urgent commentary are wholly realized characters on both sides of the class divide. As easy as it is to make fun of the privileged Park family, each member's life is filled with pathos, one that reflects the malaise of living inside a Gilded Cage. The impoverished and desperate-for-work Kim family sees their underdog status undermined by a relentless, fiendish pursuit of the fundamental assets that we take for granted in life.

Whether you're enjoying it for leisure purposes or to dissect it as a dense text about the perils of capitalism, the family dynamic, and national identity, Parasite is always a worthwhile film to revisit. Bong Joon Ho's marvelous film, down to every last frame, was so undeniable that it practically demanded Oscars when the credits rolled.

Parasite is available to watch on Netflix in the U.S.