Let’s start this movie by
calling myself out for being a film geek poser: I’m not that familiar with the
works of Bong Joon-Ho. I’ve loved everything of his that I’ve seen so far, but
he didn’t really catch my interest until he started making movies in English. Those
films being Snowpiercer, a close-quarters sci-fi brawler that uses a
perpetually moving train circling an apocalyptic world as a metaphor for class warfare,
and Okja, a
charming little tale about a girl trying to rescue her genetically modified pig
friend from being paraded around and slaughtered by the movie’s version of
Monsanto. This knack for multi-layered satire of capitalism and class disparity
is present and accounted for in Parasite, Bong’s first Korean film in
ten years. Only now the setting is far less fantastical, its scale much
smaller, and Bong’s writing and technical prowess has been folded, hammered and
sharpened into katana blade precision.
Our story follows the Kims, an
incredibly poor and unemployed family who stumbles upon the job opportunity of
a lifetime. Ki-woo (Choi Woo-Jik) is called upon by a friend to take his place
as an English tutor for the wealthy Park family, fooling their stay-at-home
trophy wife matriarch Yeon-Kyo (Jo Yeo-Jeong) into thinking his credentials are
legitimate. (Although that wasn’t so tough since she’s not the brightest bulb
in the lamp.) Soon enough he gets his sister Ki-Jung (Park So-Dam) to bluff her
way into a job as an art tutor for her eccentric son (Jung Hyun-Jun), then they
get the Park’s driver and maid fired so their mom and dad (Jang Hae-Jin and Song
Kang-Ho) can take their place, with the Park family completely oblivious to the
fact that their new staff are all related.
That premise opens itself up
to plenty of possibilities. Is this a comedy? Is it a psychological thriller? A
horror film, perhaps? Well, Bong Joon-Ho being the kind of director he is,
decided to opt for all three. For the first third, we get laughs from this down
on their luck family conning a bunch of gullible one-percenters into giving
them jobs. The way the Kims integrate themselves into the Park’s lives is framed
like a heist movie, cutting between them practicing their great scheme by
forging documents, rehearsing lines and window-shopping for cars, and the
ensuing execution by exploiting some other weaknesses, mainly Yeon-Kyo’s naivete
and her breadwinner husband’s (Lee Sun-Kyun) general absence. There’s even a
scene where they try to sneak out of the house undetected that feels something
out of Mission: Impossible. While they may not have formal education or
training, they’re not lazy or stupid. Quite the opposite, in fact. They have to
be smart and cunning in order to survive. Of course, the prize of the big grift
isn’t money or glory, it’s simple secure employment, something they’re all
desperate for in a saturated market.
When I say they’re desperate,
I do mean desperate, because the Kim clan is about as poor as they can
be without being outright homeless. When we first meet them, they’re cramped together
their low-level basement apartment, squeezing into the corner of the bathroom to
get free wi-fi, folding up pizza boxes for cash, and leaving the windows open
when an exterminator comes by so they can get free fumigation. The Park
residence, meanwhile, is a swanky modern home on top of a hill with glass walls that give a view to their walled-off backyard. Much like the titular setting of
The
Lighthouse, the house is like a character itself: a safeguard for the privileged
Parks with its own history, personality, and secrets waiting to be discovered, where
they can safely watch the rain fall while everyone below them struggles to keep
their own homes from flooding. The film takes great lengths to emphasize that
wealth hasn’t turned the Parks into vicious highfaluting sociopaths, but rather
complacent and thoughtless. They’re nice, but only because they can afford to
be. But much like how the Kims try to leech off the Parks, we get brief glimpses
that show just how much the Parks need them around to function.
And then things get weird.
Without giving away too much,
we learn halfway through that the Kims are not the first to come up with this
idea, and in pulling it off have screwed over some of their fellow have-nots. While
the Kims have the house to themselves while the Parks are away on vacation and
have a rare moment where they’re allowed to let their guard down, complications
arise when their old housekeeper (Lee Jeong-Eun) re-enters the picture and
reveals secrets about the house that even the Parks aren’t savvy to. It’s at
this point where the movie takes a more sinister turn and the Kim’s charade is
threatened. Some of the claims that this suddenly becomes a horror movie
halfway through are a bit exaggerated. It’s more accurate to call it a Hitchcockian
thriller, with plenty of moving parts, planting and payoff, and a tense buildup
to an explosive ending. Carrying on a well-worn tradition in Korean cinema, the
movie’s use of violence is sparing, but leaves an indelible impact when it’s
finally executed. I wouldn’t say it’s as gory or over-the-top as, say, the
finale to Once
Upon A Time in Hollywood, but considering how pristine and clean-cut
everything has been up to that point, it might as well be.
Bottom line, Parasite
is a phenomenal, funny, sinister, twisted, unpredictable piece of pure cinema.
It’s expertly written, shot and choreographed, keeps up a lively pace that
assures there’s never a dull moment, constantly keeps the audience on its toes,
and provides plenty of commentary on class warfare and what happens when one
loses empathy without painting either side as repulsive monsters. Easily one of
the best movies of the year, and possibly the best of Bong Joon-Ho’s entire
career.
9/10
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