MOVIE REVIEW | PARASITE || FULL ENGLISH REVIEW
Kim Ki Tayek's family with his wife and two sons and daughters. Although they are working, unfortunately all four of them are unemployed. Their lives are literally stuck in a dungeon. Sitting in a damp apartment high in the middle of the street, trying to reconcile the hardships of life, Kim's son G-Ur appears to be an angel for them. He offered her a job as a private tutor in a wealthy family.
G-U took care of himself even though he was about to hang his jaw when he went to their palace. He also got a job for his sister by handing over to Mrs. Park, the simple lady of the house. Ji-U and Ki-Jeong, the two siblings, have no shortage of slim wit. The conspirators do not bind their conscience to give up their jobs as drivers and housekeepers. Little by little, Mr. Park became the main source of income for the entire Kim family.
Even the seemingly perfect life of Mr. Park, the owner of an IT firm, is at stake. Her whimsical little boy is traumatized by the fear of not knowing her name. An unhappy mood is often seen in Mrs. Park all the time. Despite living a luxurious life, there is no spark of confidence in Park's daughter Da-Hier. Their activity is also ridiculous. They live in a fantasy world by owning immense wealth. Although successful in their mission, disaster suddenly befell the Kim family. The abandoned past suddenly brings Kim, Park and Moon-Guang's family along the same line.
Not only the novelty of the story, but also the presentation deserves credit. One family is sitting and enjoying the beauty of the rain, but in the irony of fate, the dream of another family is floating away. In another scene, Mr. Park suspects that his driver picked up a poor man and spent the night with him. Mr. and Mrs. Park later pretended to be poor in the form of that incident while role-playing on the sofa. The poor who live a dehumanized life in their colorful world are the butt of laughter. However, it does not seem to be the only purpose of this movie to show the difference between the upper class and the lower class. There will be a bigger push than the twist of the movie, when it seems that class-conflict can lead to the birth of such unscrupulous monsters.
A few days ago, the movie won the highest title in the movie world, the Oscar. Also, after being screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019, the highest award for Cannes was won by Palm D'Or and 'Parasite'. At IMDB, the audience's vote rating is 8.6 / 10, and the rating of Rotten Tomatoes is 100% fresh.
The success of the parasite movie, however, is not surprising. The movie was directed by Korean legend Bong Jun Hu. He created the movie Memories of Murder (2003), which is one of the best thrillers in Korea. After making the movie 'Mother' in 2009, he went to Hollywood and made two different science fictions like 'Snooperser (2013)' and 'Okaja (2016)'. Through these two movies or ‘The Host (2006)’, he has highlighted class discrimination and corporate system with the help of metaphors. Finally, after ten years, he came back to his roots with that class discrimination. This time, of course, his storytelling style is different, with Jean On-han arranging the story in such a way that at the end it may seem like a fairy tale.
However, besides the director, the actors and actresses of the movie have to give great credit. Kang Ho Song, who regularly worked with Bong Jun Hu, played the role of Kim. Along with the veteran actors and actresses, the newcomers have also created a wonderful atmosphere among the family members. The situation is somewhat similar to that of the novelist Humayun Ahmed's novel, the humorous scenes in the inhuman situation have reduced the pressure on the characters as well as the audience. Bong Jun Hu says,
It was strange for me to show tragedy or comedy for two hours straight. And human life is basically a mixture of these two. Even in horrible situations, a lot of things happen like laughing. That is what I have expressed through my work.
The main purpose of the movie is entertainment, and there is no shortage of that entertainment in the movie 'Parasite'. Scenes such as exploiting a pitch allergy, holding a cigarette in a commode during a disaster, or opening a window when it comes to insect repellent are the perfect sources of dark comedy. The narrator has reached the depths of the characters by arranging the words on the back of the words and following the path of dialogue. And the protagonist's drama is smoothly taken forward by cinematographer Hong Kiang-Pio's tactical tracking shot. He angles the camera in such a way that the social position of the characters becomes clear to the viewer by looking at the screen. Also the background music of the movie was unique. The classical piano was giving the park house a creepy feel. Jail Jung has played well with the audience's nerves by stopping the background music in some special moments of suspense.
Class inequality in South Korea has been growing at an alarming rate in recent times, so it often comes up in their media. The director never over-dramatized the frustrations and resentments of the economically backward Kim family. Their ability to adapt easily or to control their emotions in different situations may seem a little unusual at first.
Although the first half of the movie is about general family drama and black comedy, a new game of comedy of error started soon after. In the end, the sudden transition of the movie can cause some mental anguish. In the movie The Dark Knight (2006), the Joker famously said, "Madness is like gravity, all it needs is a little push." The last digit of ‘parasite’ can be expressed with just this one line.
The audience will feel a strange pull towards the characters even if there is no moral value. The unresolved ending may be viewed by optimistic viewers as a happy outcome. There are some things that are troubling, but this tragicmedi can make it to the list of timeless Korean films. The world of this story is also but unknown. It's shown in bold, but the tragic consequences of the characters in the movie are not impossible in reality.