--- description: Find out why Bong Joon Ho is one of the 100 most influential people of 2020. title: Bong Joon Ho: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt787efd675fcc909b/698a125497cdff96156bb2b0/time-100-Bong-Joon-Ho.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 22, 2020 # Bong Joon Ho by Tilda Swinton  France, Cannes, 24 May 2019 Portrait of Bong Joon-ho, South-Korean film director. France, Cannes, 24 mai 2019 Portrait de Bong Joon-ho, rŽalisateur sud-corŽen. Cyril Zannettacci / Agence VU pour LibŽration France, Cannes, 24 May 2019 Portrait of Bong Joon-ho, South-Korean film director. France, Cannes, 24 mai 2019 Portrait de Bong Joon-ho, rŽalisateur sud-corŽen. Cyril Zannettacci / Agence VU pour LibŽrationCyril Zannettacci—AGENCE VU/Redux There is a word in Korean, _ahjussi_, which refers to an average older man. In some family photographs of a certain era, you can see that the Korean father—_ahjussi_—has parked one foot on a curb, a hand on his hip, and taken his gaze insouciantly off into the distance: staunch, detached and, at the same time, somehow heroic. [Bong Joon Ho](https://time.com/5697795/bong-joon-ho-parasite-interview/ "undefined") and I have always found what we call the “_ahjussi_ pose” unbelievably funny, the way this attitude of the casual born out of undeniable shyness renders every participant looking like nothing more than the model for a vintage knitting pattern. Over the past decade, including—unforgettably—on the [great steps of the Grand Palais at Cannes](https://time.com/4785776/okja-review-bong-joon-ho/ "undefined"), we have recorded countless _ahjussi_ poses. On newsstands in January, Director Bong struck a magnificent specimen of the form [on the cover of Vanity Fair](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/01/oscar-special-2020-bong-joon-ho "undefined"), wedged against a prop chair, looking otherwise engaged. This is the filmmaker who, this year, has risen into the 2020 vision of the entire cine­passionate planet like a new sun. Whip-smart, highly skilled, supremely cine­literate, exuberant, irreverent, self-determining, deeply romantic, with a voracious delight in the absurd, highly principled, precision-tuned, compassionate to the last: his films have always been all this. It just seems to be [time for the world to catch up.](https://time.com/5779940/parasite-best-picture-oscars/ "undefined") He is the ultimate sophisticate cinematic fanboy whilst harboring not a drop of either snobbery or cynicism: he is good for cinema from start to finish. And the person? Sweet-hearted, loyal, amused, cozy, playful, sincere, especially hilarious when in his cups, fiercely familial, gloriously silly, unfailingly kind. Diamond. _Swinton is an Academy Award-winning actor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888477/bong-joon-ho/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888477/bong-joon-ho/"},"headline":"Bong Joon Ho","datePublished":"2020-09-22T20:22:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:19.063Z","description":"Find out why the \"Parasite\" director is one of the most influential people of 2020, according to Tilda Swinton.","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888477/bong-joon-ho/","keywords":["TIME 100","T100 2020","T100 2020 Artists"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt787efd675fcc909b/698a125497cdff96156bb2b0/time-100-Bong-Joon-Ho.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt787efd675fcc909b/698a125497cdff96156bb2b0/time-100-Bong-Joon-Ho.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888477/bong-joon-ho/","name":"Bong Joon Ho"}}]}] ```