This is absolutely brilliant. It deserves the win. It has the wit of Ocean's Eleven with the tone of Bonnie and Clyde, a little hope of The Shawshank Redemption.
I heard about President Trump hating this movie because it's from South Korea, but my guess is he hates it because it's good. When you have a lower class family working to make ends meet, it may sound like a run of the mill poverty story. Then you kick it up a notch as they scheme their way into working for a rich family living in a beautiful architectural home.
It is guaranteed to keep you engaged with twists that probably would have been panned in a Western Culture film. If it were an American film, it probably wouldn't be as engaging. The characters would probably be seen as despicable people who would destroy a perfectly nice family and their livelihood just to make a few bucks.
The biggest twist, I thought, was when it all falls apart, and the father splits "like a cockroach." You assume that they'd turn on each other, as the film suggests. Then the son discovers that he's living in the shelter in the basement, and he pledges to earn money honestly and to buy the house so that the father can come out.
The script was beautifully written, every little detail foreshadowed to something big in the end just to be undone to upset your expectations. The cinematography was outstanding; it made everything flow, not like 1917's "one-shot" technique. The music fit with every scenario. If it were a slient film, it would be just as entertaining, thanks to the score.
I discussed with my mother on a question I never have much thought to: who is the parasite? The obvious is the Kim family working their way into the Park's employment. But the Parks act as a parasite back. Without really meaning to, they got under their employees' skin. They have complete disregard for their well-being because they are rich enough to pay other people to do their dirty work for them. When it all goes to hell at the party, and "Jessica" gets stabbed, Mr. Park was more concerned about his son's seizure than Jessica bleeding on his front lawn. That appears to be the last straw for Mr. Kim. Throughout the course of the film, Mr. Park complains of a horrible smell that Mr. Kim appears to give off, "like an old turnip...a boiled rag."
It's an excellent example of class division that couldn't be easily portrayed in the Western World without looking racist. The Kim family weren't con artists, they were desperate people living in sh*t, quite literally at one point, that leapt at the opportunity of everyone getting hired by a rich family. I foolishly saw this at the theater for $7 when it was available on Prime Video for $5.99, but I noticed that people didn't really laugh much. When I watched it at home with my mother, she was having a ball. We concluded that you'd have to be poor to understand its message. It's a crisis in this world, especially in this country. Good people like the Kim family work hard for very little pay, and they are stuck with no way out. You see on the wall that Mr. Kim was an Olympic hammer-thrower, so you'd think he would've had it made with his medal and all. But if you listen to his resumé, he was a valet, and worked in a restaurant, that medal doesn't mean sh*t except that he was once something great. All they could really do at that point was dream of a better life. Even when the son pledges to earn enough money to buy the house and liberate his father, he's mearly dreaming. Where's he going to get enough money? How long will it be until Mr. Kim can walk up the stairs freely? How can he survive down there?
That's another thing. The first housekeeper was seen as a wonderful worker with a slight flaw of eating enough for two. Turns out, she's harboring her husband in the basement. He's stuck down there, secretly serving the Park family by serving as the light sensor for the entrance stairs. He pledges his allegiance to Mr. Park but he demands respect. He and the housekeeper are a third parasite in this story. When her husband went into serious debt and became a target for loan sharks, the housekeeper snuck him down there to keep him safe, and she worked hard for the Park family above. But it makes you think of how measly of a salary it was that she still can't pay off their debts despite working for a rich family.
Whether you hate it or love it, it is a truly one of a kind film. A friend of mine and I also discussed how this would be an amazing stage play. What do you think?
I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return next week with another movie. See you then.
Released On: May 30, 2019 (South Korea), October 11, 2019 (U.S.)
Rating: R
Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun, Jan Hye-jin
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.6/10
Awards
Academy Awards
Cannes Film Festival
Golden Globe Awards
(Click here to view more awards for "Parasite".)
I discussed with my mother on a question I never have much thought to: who is the parasite? The obvious is the Kim family working their way into the Park's employment. But the Parks act as a parasite back. Without really meaning to, they got under their employees' skin. They have complete disregard for their well-being because they are rich enough to pay other people to do their dirty work for them. When it all goes to hell at the party, and "Jessica" gets stabbed, Mr. Park was more concerned about his son's seizure than Jessica bleeding on his front lawn. That appears to be the last straw for Mr. Kim. Throughout the course of the film, Mr. Park complains of a horrible smell that Mr. Kim appears to give off, "like an old turnip...a boiled rag."
It's an excellent example of class division that couldn't be easily portrayed in the Western World without looking racist. The Kim family weren't con artists, they were desperate people living in sh*t, quite literally at one point, that leapt at the opportunity of everyone getting hired by a rich family. I foolishly saw this at the theater for $7 when it was available on Prime Video for $5.99, but I noticed that people didn't really laugh much. When I watched it at home with my mother, she was having a ball. We concluded that you'd have to be poor to understand its message. It's a crisis in this world, especially in this country. Good people like the Kim family work hard for very little pay, and they are stuck with no way out. You see on the wall that Mr. Kim was an Olympic hammer-thrower, so you'd think he would've had it made with his medal and all. But if you listen to his resumé, he was a valet, and worked in a restaurant, that medal doesn't mean sh*t except that he was once something great. All they could really do at that point was dream of a better life. Even when the son pledges to earn enough money to buy the house and liberate his father, he's mearly dreaming. Where's he going to get enough money? How long will it be until Mr. Kim can walk up the stairs freely? How can he survive down there?
That's another thing. The first housekeeper was seen as a wonderful worker with a slight flaw of eating enough for two. Turns out, she's harboring her husband in the basement. He's stuck down there, secretly serving the Park family by serving as the light sensor for the entrance stairs. He pledges his allegiance to Mr. Park but he demands respect. He and the housekeeper are a third parasite in this story. When her husband went into serious debt and became a target for loan sharks, the housekeeper snuck him down there to keep him safe, and she worked hard for the Park family above. But it makes you think of how measly of a salary it was that she still can't pay off their debts despite working for a rich family.
Whether you hate it or love it, it is a truly one of a kind film. A friend of mine and I also discussed how this would be an amazing stage play. What do you think?
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I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie for me to review. Thank you for reading. I'll return next week with another movie. See you then.
Released On: May 30, 2019 (South Korea), October 11, 2019 (U.S.)
Rating: R
Stars: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun, Jan Hye-jin
Director: Bong Joon-ho
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 99% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 8.6/10
Awards
Academy Awards
- Best Picture - Winner
- Best International Feature Film - Winner
- Best Director Bong Joon-ho - Winner
- Best Original Screenplay Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won - Winner
- Best Production Design Lee Ha-jun & Cho Won-woo - Nominated
- Best Film Editing Yang Jin-mo - Nominated
Cannes Film Festival
- Palme d'Or - Winner
Golden Globe Awards
- Best Foreign Language Film - Winner
- Best Director Bong Joon-ho - Nominated
- Best Screenplay Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won - Nominated
(Click here to view more awards for "Parasite".)
I think all those thinks you thought! I was also privy to your discush about the stage play abd wholeheartedly agree.
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