"Parasite" Movie Review

By: James Southworth
Rating: 5/5 Stars

I don't really talk as much about foreign films/directors on this site as I would like to, and maybe that needs to change. One of the best directors working out there right now is Joon-ho Bong. Just look at his impressive filmography: he's made great works like "Snowpiercer" (one of the most creative dystopian films I've ever seen) and "The Host". I also really enjoyed "Okja", although maybe not to the same extent as the other two films. Something that Bong does incredibly well is combine many genres together in the same film. He is attempting to do the same thing with "Parasite", which is about a poor, unemployed family who trick their way into working for a rich family. This simple premise leads to a lot of complicated and clever commentary on class relations, as well as some superb characters and performances. This is one of the most unique films I've seen in recent memory, and will almost certainly be my favorite movie of the year.

From beginning to end, "Parasite" is pretty much flawless. Every moment in this film feels essential; there is no dead air or filler moments. Every frame is used to progress the plot and/or develop one of the many interesting characters that appear in this film. Joon-ho Bong is in absolute command of his craft throughout this movie. It's been a while since I've seen a film that is effortlessly superb. You don't even truly notice all the great things on their own; instead, they all blend together because this movie is just that good. One of the most impressive things about the movie is its many styles of cinematography. There are so many different types of shots done throughout the film, and they are always done with the purpose of giving off a distinctive tone. Some shots here look right out of an action movie, while others look like they would blend right into a classic horror film. The creativity of the cinematography is off the charts, with Bong doing some really cool shots that are meant to parallel one another and create commentary. The score in this movie is also excellent. There's some great music choices here, which help create the moods of scenes to an absolutely flawless degree. Like I mentioned before, the way this movie flows is pretty much flawless. What's particularly impressive about this is the fact that the film has a pretty different first and second half. The first half of the film is definitely more of a comedy with some dramatic elements, while the second half is pretty much a straight up horror/thriller flick. In less experienced hands, this dramatic genre shift could've felt entirely awkward and forced. But not in Bong's hands. The transition here works so well, it's sort of shocking. It comes out of absolutely nowhere, and it's impossible not to be invested once the transition happens. Trust me, you won't be ready for it, but let the film take you on its amazing ride. I promise it'll be worth your time.

This movie has some incredible thematic heft in it. I could see there being several different thematic arcs you could derive from it, and I'll talk about a couple. The movie's name reinforces what is probably the biggest question of the film: which family is the bigger parasite? Is it the unemployed Kim family, who force and deceive their way into a rich family's lives, and in the process being more like leeches thriving off the rich? Or are the parasites the naive Park family, who are unaware of their massive privilege and the fact that they are prejudiced towards those who are lower class than they are? I appreciate that Bong doesn't really lean one way or the other in his exploration of the theme, instead just letting it naturally play out. This arc doesn't take away from the very interesting central story; in fact, it adds to it. I could also see people interpreting this movie as a study on greed. And it certainly could be looked at like that; in fact, it could be interpreted as a parable in some ways. The movie is larger than life, and like a parable, has moments that are clearly meant to be symbolic. I also appreciate that the movie has studies on how different generations view class structure. It's really interesting to see someone like the patriarch of the Kim family, Ki-taek, being more nihilistic about the family's situation. However, someone like Kim Ki-woo is much more optimistic in thinking that his family could get out of their situation with the right plan in place. Even with the rich the generational divide is interesting. The younger daughter Park Da-hye seems to at least "see" the lower class Kim family for who they are more quickly than anyone else. The matriarch Park Yeon-kyo is much more naive, and doesn't seem to realize how fortunate she is in her position. These multiple ideas all happening at the same time make for a film that is thoroughly engrossing, and one that could be talked about for a long time. This is only a good thing.

The great characters and performances in this film are almost too many to count. It's really hard to say who the best character in the film is, because pretty much all of them are equally intriguing. If I had to choose a favorite, I would go with Kim Ki-woo, played expertly by Woo-sik Choi. This character has a lot more going on than just his desire to go up in class rank. There are a lot of deep layers to this character, which are cleverly revealed through his relation to this art piece he gets as a gift. It's really interesting as we learn more about him. Choi makes a lot of wonderful acting choices here, getting to show off his comedic and dramatic chops. He nails both of those sides of his character to sheer perfection. A lot of people are going to latch on to Kang-ho Song's performance of main character Kim Ki-taek, and for good reason. This character starts off seeming like he's overall carefree while being clever, but as the movie goes on, we realize the type of person he can be when put under pressure. This movie shows multiple sides to every character. No character in the movie is one personality trait. All characters are alternately likeable and despicable at one moment are another. I appreciate also that every character has some sort of arc or change they go through by the end of the movie. For some movies, this is hard to do for even one character. It's truly amazing this movie has development for about seven different people. There are many other performances still to commend. Yeo-jeong Jo is unbelievably great as the matriarch of the Park family. She does a superb job at navigating between her character being naive as well as legitimately caring of other people (in her own odd way). Sun-kyun Lee is great at making the somewhat arrogant Park patriarch pretty likeable in a lot of moments. What's important in this movie is you sympathize with both the rich and poor families. Both of them feel relatable in their own interesting ways. Other great performances include Ji-so Jung as the reserved Park Day-hye and So-dam Park as the clever and often funny Kim Ki-jung.

There is a lot to commend "Parasite" for, from its multiple thematic ruminations to the bevy of excellently developed characters. This is about as flawless of a movie as you could get. It really took my breath away upon first viewing. There's so much to take in, and I definitely want to see the movie some more so I can appreciate all the great things it has to offer. I would be perfectly happy if I were to find out that this movie earned the Oscar for Best Picture tomorrow. I'm that confident that it fully deserves it, and it would be a criminal offense for it not to be nominated. Movies like this come so rarely, and I would say that this is a necessary film to watch before you die. I'm serious; it's that good. This is easily my favorite film of the year so far!