I was finally able to catch Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite. It is an excellent movie. I’m going to keep this review as short as possible so not to ruin the experience. Basically, the Kims, a devious poor family that lives in a semi-basement apartment, manage to finesse their way into four high-paying service positions for the wealthy and somewhat naïve Park family. The Kims are some straight up hustlers and the way they slide into those service positions is nothing short of brilliant. However, their actions have some serious consequences.
The way the film is shot is amazing. Bong Joon Ho uses vertical cinematography (in this case, stairways and hills) to convey wealth. It is very clear that the world that the Parks inhabit is worlds different from the world of the Kims. There is a discussion among the Kims at the halfway mark of the film about how money fixes things. Mrs. Kim says that “money is an iron,” and she is 100% correct. Who the title of the film refers to seems obvious at first, but as the movie progresses, that descriptor becomes fluid and it is not so easy to brand just one family as parasitic.
If you get the chance to watch Parasite, do it. It is a movie that requires multiple viewings and it won’t be a waste of time to do so. Grade: A.
