Bong Joon-ho swears he isnt exhausted. The 50-year-old director has spent the past two months canvassing North America to promote his newest release, Parasite , which makes a strong case for the years best movie. From his home in South Korea, Bong has traveled to Toronto, New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Austin, showered with more praise than anyone so unassuming can ingest.

Im doing great, he said by phone via translator. A telling chuckle followed, and when I pointed out that his laughter might indicate otherwise, Bong chuckled harder.

As foreign titles go, Parasite is doing bang-up business: $7.5 million domestically over the past three weeks, and $102 million globally since opening abroad in May. Theres talk of Oscar nominations, perhaps even Best Picture a prize that has never gone to a non-English film. Last weekend, Parasite was playing on 461 screens. This weekend, it will hit 600 screens. Most foreign films are lucky to cross 100.

If Bong is indeed doing great now, imagine how hell feel after four more months of awards-season glad-handing. Hes had success before, sure, but even his projects with big-time Hollywood stars the 2013 dystopian drama Snowpiercer (featuring Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris and Tilda Swinton) and the 2017 animal-rights adventure Okja (Jake Gyllenhaal, Steven Yeun, Paul Dano and Tilda Swinton again) didnt seem to elicit the widespread fervor that Parasite has evoked among Bong disciples.

Parasite follows a struggling Seoul family as they con their way into a wealthy clans employ, only to discover startling secrets on the other side. What starts as a social comedy becomes a horror movie, a domestic psychodrama and a wistful mystery all wrapped together with exhilarating heft. American audiences dont often have an appetite for subtitles, but those who discover Parasite will be surprised by how much of a crowd-pleaser it is and by how much Hollywood studios could learn from its sensibilities. The film is special, the type that admirers will remember experiencing for the first time. And the second. Perhaps even the third, fourth and fifth.