Film
Film review: Parasite
The Oscar-winner from South Korea is wonderful, says Linda Marric
February 11, 2020 14:50
The Oscar-winner from South Korea is wonderful, says Linda Marric
February 11, 2020 14:50A poor Seoul family infiltrate the lives of a wealthy upper class household in Parasite, South Korean writer/director Bong Joon-Ho’s mind-bending, utterly mesmerising Oscar-winning tragi-comedy.
Ever since winning the Palme D’Or at Cannes in May 2019, Parasite has been gathering momentum and much buzz on the festival circuit, and more recently during this endless 2020 awards season. The cherry on top, however, came when the film swept the board at the Oscars, winning a total of eight prizes and becoming the first ever subtitled feature to take home the coveted Best Picture Prize.
It tells the story of the Kim family, for whom life hasn’t been a bed of roses of late. Headed by jobless father Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) and former athlete mother Chung-sook (Chang Hyae-jin), the Kims live under unsanitary conditions in a dilapidated basement flat in one of the poorest quarters of Seoul. The family finally catches a break when their son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik) is offered the chance to home-tutor the teenage daughter of the wealthy Park family.
Ki-Woo soon manages to charm his way into the Parks’s home and into the heart of their besotted daughter. Seeing his new job as a way of out of the misery, the young man introduces his own sister Ki-jung (Park So-dam) to his new employers by asking her to pose as an art teacher for their unruly son.
Soon the whole family, including the parents, find themselves in the employment of the Parks thanks to more underhanded machinations, but what happens next will go on to change the fate of both families forever.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Snowpiercer, Okja) has given us one of the smartest, most accomplished and genuinely intriguing films of the last decade. While its themes of inequality and the struggle for social standing have much to say about modern South Korea, Parasite’s main appeal resides in the universality of its strong socio-political message.
Bong has re-written all the rules of storytelling.Parasite's narrative is beautifully layered, dense and stunningly intricate, guaranteed to leave audiences under the film’s spell long after the credits have rolled. His ability to pull the rug from under them just when they think they’ve figured out where the story is heading, is what makes him into one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation.
This film is a game changer, which has transcended language and nationality to become one of the most universally adored Best Picture winners of recent years. This is what a true masterpiece looks like.