My review of Parasite is coming a bit later than I’d have liked, but after catching it I can see why Bong Joon-ho’s award-winning film has set records in the west for foreign-language releases. I’ve seen many people recently compare it to Joker, another Academy Award nominee, in its analysis of class and social structures and unsettling tone. But though I liked both movies, I don’t know if that’s fair. Because Joker is more of a psychological study into entitled evil, and its class focus is mostly about Bruce’s mega-rich dad, Thomas Wayne, being written by Todd Philips as a jerk. It’s different with Parasite, because this is a story specifically about greed itself, told within a dark yet morbidly comedic framing.
It revolves around two families, the low-income Kims who struggle day to day as box folders, and the extremely wealthy Parks. Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik), the Kims’ son, takes up an offer from his college friend to work as an English tutor for the Parks’ daughter Da-hye (Jung Ji-so). Seems like a simple enough job. But Ki-woo, having been inspired by the Korean Suseok stones his friend gifted him that are presumed to bring whoever possesses them great fortune, has more ambitious plans.
He convinces his sister Ki-jung (Park So-dam) to pose as an unrelated art teacher/therapist, who strikes up a connection with the Parks’ hyperactive son Da-song (Jung Hyeon-jun). Through an elaborate plan to dispose of the old housekeeper (Lee Jung-eun) using a fruit-related allergy, their mother Chunk-sook (Jang Hye-jin) is hired as the new home worker, as well as their father Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) as the new chauffeur after blackmailing the previous one.
Carefully rehearsing their fake backstories, the Kims endear themselves to the gullible Mr. and Mrs. Park (Lee Sun-kyun and Cho Yeo-jeong), enjoying their affluence and spacious home while the Parks are away on a trip. But things start spiraling out of control when the prior housekeeper returns, setting in motion a chain of events that will have the audience both laughing, thinking and screaming. A moment involving the housekeeper, her husband (Park Myung-hoon), a phone camera and North Korean propaganda had me in stitches.
Tonally, much of the movie reminded me of Ruthless People in terms of making a captivating story around generally unsympathetic characters. It’s easy to feel for the Kim family as they deal with an empty pantry and heavy flooding during rainstorms, husting for a better life, and for the Parks due to the chaos that their new employees wind up unleashing. Yet Joon-ho also writes the Parks with a degree of aristocratic-ness, like them being put off by the smell of poor folks, that gradually gets under Ki-taek’s skin.
In interviews, Joon-ho has inferred the title refers to how both families take advantage of each other, which makes a ton of sense. Rather than make either “side” out-and-out villains, the story of Parasite is an indictment of the inequity and social problems that helped cause this situation, outrageous as it is, in the first place.
But all this social commentary is nevertheless wrapped in a story that transforms into suspense and then horror that catches the audience off guard, with a very well-directed climax that always shifts moods. Before one extremely intense scene, a character picking up an item in the kitchen is one of the few times in theaters I slowly put my fingertips on my lips, and sarcastically, ominously thought to myself “Oooooh no, we’re going to have fun today.”
Joon-ho thankfully never makes Parasite feel preachy, as sharply and viciously satirical as it is. This is unabashedly a film about the old adage “money is the root of all evil”, taken to a surreal and disturbing but very entertaining extreme. Not to mention the characters are funny and very well developed, with some nice performances on part of Song Kang-ho and Lee Jung-eun especially.
It’s also a visually sophisticated work, making great use of metaphors and atmospheric camera shots that really add to the story. So if you don’t mind some unsettling and potentially squeamish content, I can easily recommend it to older audiences. If you’d made your way to a theater to see it, head by @official_FAN on Twitter and let us know how you felt about it!