Parasite focuses on the Kim family, a struggling low-income family who live in a semi-basement apartment, barely skating by folding up pizza boxes for a living. Things change when the son, Kim Ki-woo, played by Choi Woo-shik, is presented with a tutoring opportunity for the rich Park family, where he has to pose as a university student in order to get the job. He soon also manages to get his sister, Kim Ki-jeong, played by Park So-dam, as a fellow teacher, with her posing as a professional therapist. Before they know it, the entire family Kim family con their way into the Parks’ lives, becoming more and more intrusive that leading to a few twists and turns along the way.
When going into this film, it’s best to know as little as possible, beyond what I just wrote, because this is a movie filled with surprises, and that’s part of the fun of watching this. One of the strongest elements of this film right off the bat is Bong Joon-ho’s masterful storytelling. He doesn’t waste an ounce of dialogue, nor do any of the plot points he decides to bring up go to waste. There are lines of dialogue stated pretty early on that feel like throwaway lines, and then wind up being mentioned again in some way, shape, or form down the road.
This leads to not just some great storytelling, but some wonderful character development as well. Unlike most other films, just about every major player here feels like a rich (no pun intended), fleshed out, very real human being. There are things that they say that the audience can sympathize with, and their actions in another sequence can lead to audiences to despise them in an instant. The film constantly plays with audience’s feelings, but it never feels manipulative, in the sense that it paints anyone as 100% pure of heart or 100% evil.
Watching the Kims in action is by far one of this film’s funniest elements - and this film is very funny. They are people one can sympathize with right off the bat, as they are hopeful of a better life, even as they literally get pissed on from above. They are a talented bunch of individuals who simply don’t get easily presented with opportunities. Yet when they do get their chance, they go all out, and show off their biggest talents of all, that being a bunch of con artists. They prey on the Parks’ insecurities, rehearsing lines of dialogue and preemptively guessing what the family’s most natural response would be, and having responses ready to go for them.
The film never feels completely one-sided in their favor though. The Parks are also presented as nearly just as engaging to watch as the Kims are. In terms of character development, the one very minor criticism I’d make is that the two kids don’t exactly have as much of an arc as the parents do. They are crucial to the main story, with much of the son’s quirks often playing a factor in key scenes, while the daughter develops a crush on Kim Ki-woo that feels like a throwaway subplot, though often subtly ties into other major scenes. However, in terms of having a major arc, the Parks don’t get the exact same treatment as the Kims, by just a margin.
The Park matriarch and patriarch, however, are both fully developed characters. They’re portrayed as being very nice people, and they both exude plenty of charm that allows audiences to be invested in them right away. The father, Park Dong-ik - portrayed by Lee Sun-Hyun - is seen as a loving family man, while the mother Choi Yeon-gyo - portrayed by Cho Yeo-jeong - gets a lot of the comical relief, overreacting to concerns she has about her family, though finding the right balance so that she doesn’t come off like a cartoon character. And while they’re both nice, as Kim Ki-taek’s wife Park Chung-sook - portrayed by Jang Hye-jin - points out, it’s mainly because they’re rich. And once that’s brought to the forefront, it’s easy to pinpoint some of the subtle ways in which they look down on others who are less fortunate than them, sometimes without them fully realizing it.
This plays well into one of the film’s major themes of having power, and how one may act when they feel when they are in a position of power. The Kims’ one major desire is to simply have some sustainable income and be a little more in control. They long for this so much that in the film’s opening sequence, they almost literally worship the notion of having free Wi-Fi in their semi-basement apartment. And as their dreams come to fruition, they easily forget exactly where they came from. They treat those who still live around their actual neighborhood as being barely human and in one particular scene - that feels very directly influenced by the film One Hour Photo - they even treat much of the Park’s belongings as their own.
Even the way in which this film is shot signifies the ideas of power a lot. There are a lot of sequences taking place on staircases, and will almost always show characters descending these staircases. They’re filmed as wide shots, or shot from a high angle, and they’re always during moments in which a character is losing control or has no control of the situation at hand whatsoever. And when someone is in control during a sequence, they’ll always be filmed from a low angle while the less dominant figure in that scene is filmed from a high angle. The film plays a lot with angles and very specific shot structures in order to fully capture not just the balance of power between the Parks and Kims but the battle between rich and poor.
This film also plays with multiple genres, luring the audience into a false sense of security by being much more comedic in its first half. And while it never loses that darkly comic edge, it definitely plays up several other genres once it hits the halfway point. Many of the other genres Bong Joon-ho has tackled in the past rear their heads here in one form or another.
There’s a point halfway through the film where it feels almost like a dystopian thriller in the vein of Snowpiercer. There are other moments that feel straight out of a horror movie in the vein of The Host. And there are plenty of gripping scenes that make this feel like a Mission: Impossible-style action film in the vein of Okja. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to give specific examples without going into spoiler territory. However, Joon-ho carefully plays with each genre, going through each one while still maintaining some sick sense of humor about the situation at hand, allowing it to maintain a tonal consistency.
And in this respect, this is a completely nerve-wracking film. There are many aspects of this film that feel very bait-and-switch. It gets the audience comfortable enough with a certain scenario, and then throws a new curveball into the mix. Though Joon-ho’s sense of timing has never been more on point here.
He throws a lot the audience’s way, but he allows enough time to digest what just happened before that, and allows everyone to get accustomed to a new situation at hand, before introducing the next layer of the story. And never does it feel like he’s introducing something for the sake of a twist. While it’s a scene of true intensity that feels at times straight out of a blockbuster film, it’s also to service a character’s story arc, and through elements of horror and thriller, he evokes plenty of great character drama as well.
In terms of performances, Song Kang-ho, a regular of Joon-ho’s films, is one of the biggest standouts as the Kim patriarch. He’s a crafty manipulative con artist, though he does want what’s best for his family, giving him one of the densest storylines in the film, and Kang-ho finds the perfect balance of humor and pathos in his performance to really bring out the best of both worlds. Park So-dam is by far the scene-stealer though, who turns on such a switch between her actual personality and her alter-ego she plays for the Kims, she feels like she’s giving two entirely different performances, and the way in which she seamlessly shifts between personalities is absolutely mesmerizing to watch. The other big highlight is Cho Yeo-jeong, who gives one of the funnier performances in the film, as mentioned earlier bringing a lot of the comedic relief, and seeing her get so easily manipulated by the Kims winds up being both funny and somewhat heartbreaking at the same time.
Parasite is an achievement on many levels. It’s a master blending of genres, between horror, thriller, and action, all with a consistently dark comedic edge to it. It’s an excellent portrayal of social themes, and dynamic between the rich and the poor, offering a gripping portrayal of class struggle. It’s filled with some truly standout performances, particularly from the crafty Kim family, whose carefully-executed plans lend to each of the actors giving essentially two different performances, particularly from Park So-dam. And it’s a nearly pitch-perfect screenplay, giving each character a sense of nuance, never portraying someone as completely innocent or completely evil, with nearly every scene and line of dialogue having some sort of purpose. If there’s one film this year that showcases the work of someone who truly loves the art of film, it is Parasite.
Recommendation: Must-See
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