‘Parasite’ won the Palm D’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The award is the French equivalent to the Best Picture Academy Award. The reason it is getting so much praise is due to South Korean director Bong Joon-Ho. He is one of the most talented filmmakers working today. I highly recommend checking out some of his other films like ‘Snowpiercer’ and ‘Okja’ on Netflix. His direction is at a master class level. He likes to focus on themes regarding class struggle. The story keeps you guessing. He satirically pokes fun between the “Haves” and “Have-nots” when the story morphs into a dark thriller. The best way to go into watching ‘Parasite’ is with as little information as possible.
It is my objective to simply pique your interest to go see it. Revealing too many plot points will spoil it for you. So let’s dive in. At the beginning of the story, we meet the Kim family. They live in a basement apartment. Bong’s camera work is impeccable. The way he stages a scene is brilliant. The downward angle of the camera is significant. They are struggling to make ends meet. The two college-aged kids, son Kevin (Choi Woo-shik) and daughter Jessica (Park So-dam) are squatting in the corner of the toilet to get free wi-fi from a nearby café. This scene shows how they are bottom feeders in society.
When one of Kevin’s friends tells him he will be moving overseas for school, he offers him a job as an English tutor to the daughter of a wealthy family, the Parks. Since his family is struggling with low-paying jobs, this opportunity is a blessing. His dad Ki-taek (Kang-ho Song) and mom Chung-sook (Hye-jin Jang) wish him well as he heads off for the job interview. The Parks live in an exquisitely designed home that looks like something out of Architectural Digest Magazine. Kevin has entered a different world. It is the world of the privileged class. He meets the spoiled daughter Da-hye (Jung Ji-so) and hits it off with her. He is hired. When the wife (Yeo-jeong Jo) talks about her young son Da-song (Jung Hyun-joon) and his need for an art teacher, Kevin knows just the right person for the job. His sister gets hired as the art teacher. The Park family does not know they are related to each other.
That’s all I’m going to reveal about the story. The Kim family begins to infiltrate the Park family. The contrast between the two families is obvious but as they intertwine the class differences are blurred. Or are they? There are noticeable differences as the plot takes on some shocking twists. One thing is certain. Neither family is the true villain in the story. Bong does this intentionally. He is making a commentary about the system that produced the two families. The Parks are separated from the rest of society through their money and immaculate home that’s perched above the rest of the city. The Kims are crafty enough to take advantage of the wealth afforded to the Park family. Make no mistake about it. The Parks are cordial to the Kims but always assume superiority over them. It is exceptional how Bong uses tonal differences to make ‘Parasite’ a dark comedy as well as a thriller.
You hear characters saying, “That’s so metaphorical.” It certainly is in this film. Water and stone are used as metaphors. You’ll have to see how in the film. The homes of the rich Park family and poor Kim family show their drastic inequalites. The way rain is viewed by both classes is different too. In one scene, the dad Ki-taek says, “They’re rich, but nice.” The mom Chung-sook corrects him, “They’re nice because they’re rich.” It reveals how both classes do what they can to get along but what tragically separates them. The film transcends genre. It’s a satire, a dark comedy and a thriller about why the rich and poor will remain divided. ‘Parasite’ is a masterpiece.
