★★★★★
All unemployed, Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks, as they ingratiate themselves into their lives and get entangled in an unexpected incident.
Classification: 15
What left is there to be said about Parasite?
At the time of my writing of this Bong Joon-ho's dark comedy thriller on class, capitalism, and inequality has shocked the world, breaking through the cinema zeitgeist and has been praised as one the best films of 2019. Sweeping best film awards for foreign language film but breaking into mainstream categories for the Baftas and Academy Awards as a frontrunner for best picture of 2019. It's almost at a danger of being over-hyped, that the need to know as little as possible to enhance the experience has the mind race at what exactly has Director Bong crafted which has sent shockwaves through cinema. When Parasite begins, take a breath, this film won't solve world hunger, it doesn't contain the answer to the hidden questions of the universe and no it's not secretly Paddington 3. What Parasite is though is a wonderful reminder of how language barriers are meaningless to the culture of cinema as Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won's screenplay is a devilishly clever twisted look into the universal divide of wealth and poverty.
Set in the bowels of Korean slums and probably one of the most gorgeous homes I've ever seen (Ha-jun Lee's production design is Godly) Parasite follows the slow infiltration of the Kim family into the employ of the Park family. However, just like their ruse Director Bong takes the audience deeper into his film with a deception of his own, as the Park home becomes an unnerving battleground of hidden secrets and societal tension. The direction and cinematography is sharp, every move of the Kim family crafting great tension in how they successfully establish their new identities. Beginning with Ki-woo being hired as a replacement English tutor, soon through "coincidental" vacancies has his sister, father, and mother take on positions as an art therapist, chauffeur and housekeeper, though the familial connection is hidden from the Parks. Hong Kyung-pyo's camera work always subtly portraying shifting power dynamics, slowly moving in as characters speak and focus changes turning mundane locations such as cars and tables into arenas of subterfuge. Living in an impoverished sub-basement, folding pizza boxes for petty cash and scrounging off neighbouring Wifi, the Kim family represent how many talented hardworking people are denied wealth and success due to societal inequality. Ki-woo being said to be smarter than most university students, his sister Ki-jeong having top-class computer skills in forgery and his mother Chung-sook being a former silver medal Olympian. They have been dealt a hand like so many which have forced them to be creative and savvy to survive, while ethically questionable their plight is what connects Parasite to a global audience in mutual understanding.
"So, there's no need for a plan. You can't go wrong with no plans. We don't need to make a plan for anything. It doesn't matter what will happen next. Even if the country gets destroyed or sold out, nobody cares. Got it?" spoken by Song Kang-ho's Ki-taek at the climax of the second act which sees every Director Bong has crafted implode upon the characters. It's a statement of how survival and certainty are not exclusive to one another, how the disparity of the Kims or the affluence of the Parks is fleeting in time, that nothing lasts forever. Parasite holds a mirror to our society, to every society in how we view both sides of this divide; but Director Bong presents it as a scale, two sides of power delicately tipping back and forth with every new reveal and fraud. So while Ki-taek does not see the necessity to plan against the unpredictable nature of the world; Director Bong and his team are the ones meticulously plotting each detail of the character's downfalls. Jinmo Yang's editing really layers the films various themes; moments of comedy from Cho Yeo-jeong's Park matriarch taking on greater meaning as she is both ignorant to the Kim's actions and her family's own vanity. Intense drama though as well as Yang never keeps the film in stasis, a consistently transforming piece of art dancing between thrills, chills and laughs leaving audiences breathless in awe. Director Bong and Yang's execution of "The Peach Montage" is going to be taught in schools as it is a perfect collection of performance, pacing, shot composition and accompanied by the whimsical yet dramatic classical score from Jung Jae-il. Initially, I thought Parasite was utilising a lot of historical music pieces for its more dramatic tense moments but it's all Jae-il's work, the piece "The Belt of Faith" making the film's themes and iconic moments all the more timeless.
The award-winning ensemble of the film is such a delight a collection of veteran Korean actors and newcomers who each claim their rightful place as most iconic performance. The drab, pathetic yet deeply regretful Ki-Taek is wonderfully played by Song Kang-ho, one of Director Bong's longest collaborators. The Kims have the counterparts to the Parks but Ki-Taek has the greatest respect for Lee Sun-kyun's Park Dong-ik, the patriarch who in turn has little respect for his staff, seeing Ki-Taek hoping to see Kim as a silent employee (without a certain smell) than a friendly acquaintance. As if the Kims are merely an extension of the luxuries of the Park home and seeing how easily their predecessors were removed, the Parks have little sentimentality for what or who is around them. The respect isn't returned even though there is a deception, Ki-Taek and Chung-sook are not grifters nor are their children, it is all for survival but that hierarchy informs how they will always be viewed despite their efforts to provide for both families. Park So-dam as Kim Ki-jeong is a captivating revelation, you're unable to take your eyes off her as she commands the screen with confidence and charm. Her humorous little jingle before her ruse as a fraudulent art therapist now an all-time cinema moment, Cho Yeo-jeong as well having so many incredible moments, capturing Director Bong's vision of a blissfully ignorant elite. Lee Jung-eun as former housekeeper Gook Moon-gwang may be the most fascinating performance, a loyal servant to the home rather than the Park family exploring Parasite's ideas of cultural wealth against materialistic egotism. Seen further through the motifs of Native American imagery reduced to playthings for the Park's son, and a Scholar's rock being Ki-woo's most prized possession, a physical reminder to the potential he and the Kim's possess in life.
The whole cast is divine as is the direction from Director Bong, Parasite speaks to so many global ideas and affiliations that even it's deep rooting in Korean culture makes these incredible moments all the more striking and personal for the audience. It is a ubiquitous connection that we all share; our place in society determined by who is rich and who is poor and Director Bong directly examines that dehumanisation that comes with it no matter where or who we are. However, what makes Parasite such an intense experience is how it elevates these themes to a riotous narrative that embraces a style so its daunting reality feels all the more epic and cinematic. The flooding of the slums being an incredible sequence that has our protagonists lives literally be overflowed by the cost of their actions, mounting pressure in the wake of Director Bong's iconic reveals, Parasite presents this reality with incredible symbolism. It's so much more than characters wading through the strife of the modern world but providing a daring and exhilarating escape that still tackles its greater themes and issues with spirited relevance.
Every critic, filmmaker, cinephile and patron of the arts has spent the last nine months kneeling at the altar of Bong Joon-ho's incredible film and it's a film deserving of all these plaudits. When the dust of the award season settles, the faux controversies and embittered feelings of "worthy" or "snubbed" are cast aside for a whole new cycle next year, 2019 in film will have a defining truth that transcends above all the vain bickering. That Parasite is a film that captured the imaginations and conscience of a global audience, reinvigorated and introduced so many newcomers to the beauty of Korean and foreign cinema, Parasite's success is so much more than a fad for award shows to seem "hip" or "current", a token nomination to stave off accusations of discrimination. No, Parasite is that good, so good that the Hollywood and the world had to sit up and take notice, and in doing so has inspired incredible debate over its technical and thematic importance to our current associations to capitalism and class injustice.
What left is there to be said about Parasite?
Hopefully a hell of a lot more.
Director: #BongJoonho
Screenwriter: #BongJoonho and #HanJinwon
Release Date: February 7th 2020
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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