Parasite review

PARASITE:

BONG JOON-HO'S BLACK-COMEDY THRILLER IS COMPLETELY TRANSFIXING AND NOTHING SHORT OF A MASTERPIECE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

NEON

Song Kang-ho and Choi Woo-shik in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite

            This has been a long time coming but due to recent circumstances and movie theaters everywhere currently being closed for the time being, I have to do something to keep this blog and my movie reviews alive. The solution: A series of reviews for movies released last year (2019) and/or earlier this year (2020) that I either have not seen, films I saw but didn’t review during their original theatrical runs, or revisiting movies that I reviewed but probably could have done better justice to (Like a certain live-action Disney remake that several people gave me a lot of $%^& for! But I digress). 

            The first of these reviews is for the recent Oscar winner for Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Director, and International Feature Film. I’m of course talking about the South Korean black comedy/thriller, Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Snowpiercer, Okja) which upon its release everyone went nuts over and for good reasons. 

            I did see the movie in theaters and absolutely loved it, but for some odd reason I never reviewed it. Perhaps it was because I saw it like a couple of days after seeing The Lighthouse which was an absolute mindf*ck and by the end of it my brain was sore or that I went to a late evening showing and was tired by the time I got home from the theater. 

            Hopefully, I’m making up for skipping out on a review of this now but first I want to make something perfectly clear. Because I’m getting to this rather late you probably won’t get any new information out of this review since everything that can be said about Parasite has already been said and everyone and their mothers has discussed and reviewed it so don’t expect to hear anything mind-blowing that’ll make you look at the movie in a brand new light. 

            With all that out of the way, let’s finally talk about Parasite, does it deserve all the praise, awards, and attention it got since its release? Yeah, pretty much! 

            Parasite is a virtually flawless movie that explores the ongoing dilemmas of different social classes, in this film’s case the rich vs the poor, while managing to be smart, very funny, and even spine-tingling all at the same time. This could very well be the best film in Bong Joon-ho’s entire career and is something everyone should see at some point, I don’t care if you have to read subtitles, go learn about a different culture! 

            The film follows the Kim family consisting of father Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho-The Day a Pig Fell into the Well,Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Snowpiercer), mother Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin-Secret Sunshine, The World of Us, Mothers), son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik-Set Me Free, Train to Busan, Okja), and daughter Ki-jung (Park So-dam-The Royal Tailor, The Throne, The Priests) who live in a small semi-basement apartment, have low-paying jobs, and are struggling to make ends meet. However, when the family learns about the wealthy and happy-go-lucky Park family who live right above them, the Kims see a golden opportunity and without hesitation install themselves as a tutor (Ki-woo/Kevin), art therapist (Ki-jung/Jessica), housemaid (Chung-sook), and a personal driver (Ki-taek/Mr. Kim) for the seemingly nice rich family and provide services for them while also conning the Parks out of their money and bankroll their entire household without ever being aware of it. 

            Things start to get ugly when a parasitic interloper comes into the picture and interrupts the Kims’ new life of luxury and comfort causing a savage and deadly battle for dominance to erupt that threatens to destroy the delicate ecosystem between both families. 

            The film also stars Lee Sun-kyun (Drama City, Coffee Prince, White Tower) as Mr. Park, Cho Yeo-jeong (The Servant, I Need Romance, The Concubine) as Mrs. Park, Jung Ji-so (May Queen, Empress Ki, Daughter) as Da-hye, Jung Hyeon-jun (You Are Too Much, Nokdu Flower, At Eighteen) as Da-song, Lee Jung-eun (Mother (2009), New Trial, Okja) as Moon-gwang, and Park Myung-hoon (Alive, Steel Flower, Ash Flower) as Geun-sae. 

            Overall, Parasite is easily one of the smartest, funniest, and most well-crafted films I’ve seen in a long time and definitely a worthy movie to be called “Bong Joon-ho’s Masterpiece”. From the witty dialogue and brilliant uses of visual storytelling, to the strong performances by its lead actors and an intelligent plot that masterfully blends a suspenseful mystery and timely and relevant social themes with ease. 

            The movie is essentially a social satire that explores the lives of the wealthy and free-spirited vs the poor and unemployed brilliantly depicted visually by the rich family living high above in a beautiful, almost otherworldly home while everyone else lives down below in the dirty slums without any narration or exposition dumping required. Just one look at the rich house and poor neighborhoods and you know exactly how the city in this movie works and why someone from the lower grounds would try to pull off a crazy heist like this. 

The film completely utilizes the concept of visual storytelling where even if you’re not reading the subtitles, you’ll get an understanding of what is happening through the visuals, characters’ facial expressions and mannerisms, and cinematography. A notable example is the sequence where the Kim family escapes from the Parks’ house in the middle of a rainstorm which to the rich family seems beautiful and whimsical but for everyone living below them the neighborhood literally goes to shit as it gets flooded with sewage water, and the Kim family has to climb down a bunch of stairs to get back to their apartment which is shot and edited like the family is literally walking down into Hell. 

Despite its realistic and sometimes frightening subject matter, Parasite is also a very funny movie and the humor is quite smart and clever without ever turning the characters whether rich or poor into complete farces. The rich family isn’t depicted like dimwits or even as villains nor do they really do anything that makes you hate them but at the same time you understand why the poor family is starting to, and the less-fortunate family conning the rich is also very smart because they don’t have the same resources as the wealthy and have to rely solely on their wits and all of the actors successfully bring these characters to life and leave an impression. 

Parasite is the kind of movie that reminds me why I love movies in the first place and is something that must be seen to be believed. It pretty much has something for everyone, terror and suspense for horror and mystery fans, laughs, and even some thrills on top of smart writing, compelling characters, and bold storytelling, it’s a film that deserves to be watched and celebrated for generations to come.