Review: Parasite

A comedy of errors you say?

It's been a long time since we've had a film as well crafted, engaging, darkly hilarious and meticulous as Parasite directed by Bong Joon-ho and even won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the story of the Kim family who's misfortunes take a sudden turn for the better when a friend of family's son Min (Park Seo-joon) pays the family an unannounced visit and gifts them a large rock that is said to grant material wealth to families before breaking the news to his friend Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik) that he will be studying abroad and suggest that Ki-woo take over his job as an English tutor to the daughter of the wealthy Park family. Ki-woo reluctantly accepts despite not having studied at university, he forges his academic records before arriving at the Park residence for the interview. When Mrs. Park (Cho Yeo-jung) says she doesn't need any documents since Ki-woo was already recommended by Min in the first place she asks to observe he's teaching style while she observes. On his way out of the house and approved as her daughter Da-hye's (Jung Ji-so) new tutor she shows Ki-woo a painting by her young son Da-song (Jung Hyun-joon), it turns out that Mrs. Park is also in search of an art tutor for Da-song and Ki-woo tells her that he knows of an art tutor 'Jessica' who was a classmate of his cousin and can get children into good art schools. The next day, 'Jessica' arrives in the form of Ki-jung (Park So-dam), Ki-woo's sister. Soon, the Kims hatch a plan to get the other members of the household staff fired and replacing them with their parents.

Min arrives with his gift for the Kim family.

Parasite is what describes the Kim family best, in the first few minutes of the film we see the father Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) flick a bug off the dinner table while the rest of the family struggles to find a Wi-Fi signal. Later, we witness Ki-woo plant a metaphorical 'parasite' into the Park family through Mrs. Park who was earlier described by Min as simple but who we find out to also be naive, she serves as the host to the Kims who act like parasites for most of the film. Even the Parks, starting with Da-song smells the stench of the family in what's described in the film as the 'basement smell'. Basement smell. The rain that washes out the parasites also happens, destroys their belongings and pushes us towards the film's crescendo. The film is a layered look into social themes of financial status because this could easily become a film where the viewers would constantly get pummelled in the head with its themes and fortunately the final product is better because of it all thanks to Bong Joon-ho's direction and script.

Family photos of the Parks when Ki-woo first arrives for the interview.

I thought that the film's 2 hour and 14 minutes run time went by quickly, nor did it feel rushed. The script is also very tight and never gets boring while the cinematography is bright, particularly when in the Parks household. The performances by the actors playing the Kim family are honest, heartfelt even though you don't approve of what the Kims are doing you feel happy for them when they share a moment in the mansion while the Parks are away camping and most importantly they had chemistry with the people they were sharing their scenes with but among the main cast members the real star of the film is Song Kang-ho who plays the patriarch of the Kims. I thought out of the actors the scene stealers were the supporting actors in Lee Jung-yeun who plays the Parks former housemaid and Park Myung-heun who plays her lover Geun-sae in what is probably one of the best segments in dark comedy during the second half of the film.

The Kim family enjoying a rainy night in the Park residence.

The ending was satisfying, hopeful towards the misfortunes in the life of the Kims despite it all but it's also a look at family relationships with the father and the son, in both the Park and Kim families. We see that both men love their sons, but while Da-song is sheltered and the monotonous life of the wealthy which can be filled by buying expensive toys or gadgets Ki-woo's is the opposite, he is given the time to reflect with his father who speaks to him and even shows him a vulnerability he has not seen before. Overall, Parasite is a film to watch out for during next year's Oscars and is highly recommended for anyone who wants their comedy dark, while also effectively being a thriller and a drama. 

4 1/2 stars.