Not Interstellar, Moonlight, Dark Knight, Wall-E, but an indie Korean film has been rated the best movie of 21st century

An independent Korean film with an $11-million budget has just been voted the best film of the 21st century, beating the best of Nolan, Spielberg, and more.

Earlier this week, the New York Times unveiled its list of the 100 best movies of the 21st century. The publication engaged over 500 influential directors, actors and other notable names in Hollywood and around the world, who voted for the films in a painstakingly long process. The end result was a ranked list of 100, released periodically. The top 10 was unveiled in June end. To everyone's surprise, an independent Korean film beat Hollywood favourites and acclaimed films from mavericks like Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, and the Coen Brothers.

Parasite has been voted as the best film of the 21st century in a list curated by the New York Times.

New York Times' best film of the 21st century

Bong Joon Ho's Oscar-winning 2019 film Parasite was voted as the best film of the 21st century in The New York Times' Best 100 list. The film also topped the readers' poll on the publication. "Bong, a master of genre unbound by convention, fluidly shifts between broad comedy and blistering social satire throughout, then lights it all on fire with a paroxysm of tragic violence that’s as stunning as it is inevitable," notes NYT in its citation.

Parasite, a Korean black comedy, follows a poor family who infiltrate the life of a wealthy family. After premiering at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, the film had a wider release in South Korea. Its Palme d'Or win at Cannes helped it secure a global release. This helped the film, made independently for just $11 million, to gross $258 million worldwide. It earned accolades across the world, becoming the first international film to win in major categories at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, BAFTAs, and Golden Globes. At the 92nd Academy Awards, Parasite won four Oscars - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. This made it the first non-English film to win Best Picture Oscar.

Bong Joon Ho with the four Oscars that Parasite won at the 92nd Academy Awards.

The films that Parasite beat

Parasite beat David Lynch's 2001 thriller Mulholland Drive, which had to contend for the second spot, with Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood at number 3. The top 10 also included acclaimed Hollywood films like Moonlight (#5), No Country for Old Men (#6), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (#7), Get Out (#8), and The Social Network (#10), as well as celebrated international films In the Mood for Love (#4) and Spirited Away (#9). Most of these films were also in the readers' top 10.

Christopher Nolan's Interstellar took the number 89 spot in the list, but was voted at number 5 by readers.

Interestingly, Christopher Nolan's Interstellar found a place at number 5 in the readers' poll, but was relegated to number 89 in the Best 100 list.