Parasite Movie Review
Parasite is a 2019 film from the South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho. Also known for movies such as Snow Piercer and Okja, to name a few. The spoiler-free, cut to the point synopsis, is that the story follows the impoverished but ingenious Kim family who one by one lie and scheme their way into well-paying jobs as tutors, a driver, and a housekeeper for the well off but naive Park family. Until everything isn't quite what it seems.
If you're still interested, I'll elaborate a bit, spoiler-free, of course. From the jump, the Kim's are immediately likable, and you can't help but root for them even if they aren't exactly the most honest people. A significant theme of the movie centers around social class and one's position in society. The film opens on a shot of the Kim's apartment window. The apartment is half underground but still has access to fresh air and sunlight. The family isn't quite at the bottom, but they're sort of just on the edge. Symbolism, you see.
From there we meet each member of the family and get a sense of how much the family has to scrape to get by. The two children ki-Jeong (the daughter) and ki-woo (the son) are first introduced as they walk around the family apartment, complaining that the free WiFi they had been using now is password protected. Their mother Chung-Sook mentions they already don't have phone service, and if they don't have WiFi either they can't check the free messenger WhatsApp about for a potential source of income folding boxes for a local pizza place. At the advice of their father, Ki-Taek, the two wander around the apartment phones above their heads, hoping to connect to the WiFi somewhere nearby. Ironically the highest point of their apartment is a toilet and is the only place Ki-Jeong and Ki-Woo have WiFi.
Ki-woo finds they got the job folding the boxes and also finds a choppy instructional video on how to fold them quickly so they can get done faster. While showing the video to the other members of the family, Ki-Taek notices a man outside the apartment spraying pesticides. The three other members of the family move to close the windows, but Ki-Taek says to leave them open; that way, they get an extermination for free.
In just over 5 minutes of run time, you learn the Kim's economic standing (just barely above the bottom), their approach to increasing their it (as quickly as possible), and their world view (why pay for something you can get for free). Going into this movie, I was more so expecting a thriller, but the humor throughout the film is one of my favorite things about it. An early example is Ki-Taek thanking the bounteous WiFi after the family is paid for the aforementioned pizza boxes.
After establishing the Kim's family dynamic, we're introduced to Ki-woo's friend Min. Who is the polar opposite of Ki-woo. Min is wealthy enough to afford to go to college, he's confident in himself to scare off the frequent urinating drunks outside the Kim apartment when Ki-woo was too afraid, and he's thoughtful enough to bring his friend a good luck gift out of the blue (the importance of the gift you'll have find out yourself).
Min jump-starts the main plot by offering Ki-woo a job as the English tutor for the daughter of the upper-class Park family. Very quickly, Ki-woo realizes that life working for the Parks is pretty sweet and sets in motion a plan to get the other members of the Kim family cushy jobs as various members of the Park family's help. That is until things go completely off the rails. Which is all I'll say. But from the halfway point to the end credits, the only accurate description of this movie, I can come up with is "emotional rollercoaster." With some fantastic cinematography and music to illustrate how the Kim's plan comes about.
I truly believe this movie is a masterpiece. After one casual viewing and a second taking notes for this blog review, Parasite has remained a movie I can't stop thinking about. And whenever I do, I honestly want to watch it all over again. It's funny, shocking, and I was invested from beginning to end. The up and down imagery between the characters is brilliant. Every step of the way, you're reminded where each character's place is based on their surroundings. The park home being at the very top of various hills and steps, compared to the barely above ground Kim home several flights of steps below drives home the disparity between the two.
Do yourself a favor; even if subtitled movies aren't your thing, this movie is so well made it just might convince you otherwise. If, after all this, you still don't believe me, then take it from the director of the film himself, Bong Joon-Ho himself. "Once you overcome the 1-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." Parasite lives up to that quote and so much more. In my opinion, it is one of the best movies in years, and I can't wait for what Bong Joon-Ho does next.
