Parasite is the 11th film in Bong Joon-ho filmography and stars Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, and Jang Hye-jin and is the story of the non wealthy family, the Kims and the Wealthy family the Parks and it follows the Kim’s family plan to take over the job roles of people who help out the Parks under the guise of being experts in their respective fields. As events unfold, tensions run high on the family plan and things start to go awry.
A review in short, this film is a masterpiece in all aspects, it’s so unique i have never seen anything like it. Up until it was nominated for Best picture at the Oscars (And Won. The first Foreign language film to do so) i had never even heard of the movie but as Train to Busan proved Foreign language films can be great and they sweep under so many peoples radar just for the fact they have to read subtitles.Since Train to Busan i have watched many Foreign language films especially Korean and i have ‘Mostly’ had my mind blow over the quality of the movies they make. Its opened my world up to a whole new world of movie and parasite proves that South Korea is a Cinema force to be reckoned with.
The story is masterfully written every single frame,shot,line,character,location and action all adds to the narrative in some way or another even the title Parasite is a metaphor for the film itself. It’s honestly amazing how Bong Joon-ho has created a story that feels real and at the same time surreal. Having characters that are the antagonists but feel like the protagonists and protagonists that feel like the antagonist. Everything at the end comes together effortlessly and is a Chekhov’s gun a thousand times over as everything feels needed.
At the time of the Oscars i was kind of biased as i thought Parasite only won for the sake of diversity but after watching the film i can say hands down it deserved it. Watching it in the cinema I was always on the edge of my seat watching this family’s plan unfold and just sort of sat back and took it in and dissected what i was seeing.
The film is beautiful to look at despite not containing the ‘Hollywood sheen’ we all are used to. There is something special about the way it looks and i can’t quite put my finger on it. But all i know is Bong Joon-ho is a genius in his work and a master at his craft.
I can see how casual moviegoers would go into this movie and walk out thinking it was ‘boring and nothing much happened’ but a lot does happen and it’s really interesting you just need to know what to look for.
The film itself is one big mirror and has so many parallels we can discuss. In the film we see the Kim’s (Non wealthy) and the Parks (Wealthy) and usually in our society and its seems that is more so in Korea, that the unfortunate are dumb and dirty and the rich are clever and exceptional. But here it’s the opposite and it doesn’t tell you…it shows you for example the Parks have people to do all their duties for them. They have a Driver, they have a Housekeeper and personal tutors. The Kim’s have nothing and yet they develop this intricate plan to take over the job roles and infiltrate this family so they can be ‘successful’ without being wealthy. They take over their ‘Hosts’ like a Parasite would to its host.
Final Score.
Title:Masterpiece
There are many why reasons Parasite is a Masterpiece and maybe one day I will write an Essay explaining it after doing some research and watching it multiple times. But for now i’m going to cut the review short and even though it came out in 2019 it gets my first perfect review score of 2020
Head Over Reels 