Parasite (기생충) - Oscar Nominated Korean Film Knows How To Get Under Your Skin

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/_OnlyNiceThings Parasite (기생충) - Oscar Nominated Korean Film Knows How To Get Under Your Skin Kim Ki-woo and his family live in poor sub-basement apartment and get by on doing odd jobs like folding pizza boxes. One day he’s offered a chance to be an English tutor for a wealthy family’s daughter because his friend decides to go study abroad. Ki-woo is able to con his way into the job by convincing the simple minded mother, Mrs. Park that he has the credentials and skills to properly tutor her daughter. Once hired, he notices that there are other staff members working for the Parks that he could conveniently replace. Will Ki-woo be able to successfully con his new rich employers into hiring his family and take them out of poverty? Will his mother, father, and sister be able to pull off the roles of highly sought after help? And finally…will anyone take the time to fix those flickering lights? Parasite is definitely one of the more unique stories I’ve seen in recent memory. I love the idea of conning your way into a better class bracket and the “fake it till you make it” attitude the characters need to display in order to win over the well off family. Bong Joon-Ho’s script also knows how to keep you fully engaged by dropping character details early on that become these “lightbulb over your head” moments later in the story. I loved that Ki-Woo’s sister, Ki-jeong, helped her brother Photoshop his documents earlier in the film and then later Mrs. Park reveals she’s looking for an art tutor for their youngest son. Bong Joon-Ho has created some really quirky characters that you want root for, but also begin to question how long they’ll be able to keep this up. Song Kang-Ho is always fun to watch as the lovably, determined father who’s charade you’ll subtly see unravel during the film. Park So-dam’s transformation from the sister Ki-jeong, into the art therapy teacher Jessica is so mesmerizing to watch it throws out any doubts that she’ll be able to convince Mrs. Park of her talents. Parasite has some beautiful looking compositions scattered throughout the slum neighborhood and upscale gated home. Sometimes it was something simple, like making a character feel crammed into the frame by the pushy family members or constantly drawing your eye to the basement door. The director joked that the mansion was donated by a rich cine-file when in actuality, the intricate home was an elaborately created set piece. They even went as far as to build the apartment complex and surrounding homes in order to put the entire set in a water tank. By doing this, they were able to pull off the impressive flood later on in the movie. Fun fact: Bong Joon-Ho said during my screening that the crew added beauty mud masks to the flood water so it looked like it coming from the sewers. It was like a free spa day for the actors! One of the things the movie does so well is that it cleverly lures you in under the guise that it’s a con job, comedy story before completely ripping the rug from underneath you. While the Kims drunkenly celebrate their successful ruse of the Park family, you can clearly see something is about to go awry. I guarantee your theories about what’s gonna happen next are definitely wrong. While I loved Park So-dam’s transformation from the sister Ki-jeong, into the stoic and stern Jessica, they never actually tell us how she was able to tame Mrs. Park’s uncontrollable son. She spends such a short amount of time with him and then suddenly he’s miraculously behaved. I really don’t like this lack of explanation. While the overall pacing of the movie is great, once the plot pivots later in the film I feel like it gets a little thrown off course. The movie felt like it was naturally coming to a close when the new story element is introduced but instead of resolving things right there, the characters flee and you’re left questioning what the hell just happened. Things obviously get resolved in the next act but there was such a tense buildup and struggle that I really wanted the movie to wrap it all up immediately in order to keep that momentum of shock and curiosity at a high. When Song Kang-Ho’s character Kim Ki-taek has an altercation with the head of the house Mr. Park at the end of the film, I don’t feel like his actions are fully justified. To be clear, the movie sets up many little moments where Mr. Park speaks of Ki-taek condescendingly but I never felt it was so bad that Song Kang Ho’s character needed to take it to an extreme. They should have written Mr. Park into a more unlikeable character, but as it stands, I didn’t think the things he was saying were so bad that it warranted Ki-teak to go over the edge. Despite the negatives, Parasite is such a unique film and definitely deserves a lot of the praise it’s receiving right now. My only issue with all the positive buzz around this movie… is are we going to get another unnecessary remake..?