Film Review: 'Parasite'

An Introduction

Growing up in a small-market country where filmmaking is a general stigma to traditional values, all I ever aspired to transcend in films was being able to juggle an apt balance between my cultural values and creative vision with the changing attitudes of society towards minorities. The cliche of "Why don't you become a doctor or an accountant" has become "Filmmaking is a risky business", and it's true to some degree.

That's why talented, minority ('minority' as in all male and female directors of the minority) directors take on mainstream blockbusters, taking a "One for them, one for me" approach that either pays off (Taika Waititi with Thor: Ragnarok), grants them a place in Director's Jail (Gareth Edwards with Rogue One) or simply fades them into obscurity (Ang Lee with Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk). Should there ever be, a filmmaker with enough courage and grit to stand up for his creative vision and deliver on it, he should be applauded.

That, my friend, is where Bong Joon-ho comes in.

Tilda Swinton and Bong Joon-ho in 'Okja'

The director every aspiring filmmaker should aspire to become, his body of work is a peculiar mix of commercial and artistic: 'The Host' was a commentary on South Korea's environmental downfall and the government's lax handling of the matter in the form of an entertaining creature-feature, 'Memories of Murder' was a pitch-black comedy disguised as one of the best detective-mysteries of the decade and 'Snowpiercer' is a biting remark at society's class-qualification masked as an enthralling riot film. Bong Joon-ho never relents in bringing his message forward, either through dialogue, visuals, fight choreographies or simply a thought-provoking idea.

'Parasite', the 2019 Palme D'or winner, is no different.

Overall Themes

Choi Woo-sik and Park So-dam as Ki-wung and Ki-jung

"...,Parasite finds writer-director Bong Joon-ho in near-total command of his craft", read the Rotten Tomatoes consensus, and it's hard to argue otherwise. A vision unimpeded, Parasite encapsulates all that Bong Joon-ho has accomplished in his illustrious career: a vocal creative voice, a masterful tonal juggler, an enthusiast of his background and traditional values, and a director willing to adapt to the modern surroundings without compromising his will.

In its essence, Parasite runs in the same vein as Snowpiercer: it's a nail-biting thriller that comments on class, social status and materialism. But whereas Snowpiercer hit its point with guns ablazing, Parasite is a deliberately slower film, creeping in like its titular creature. But slow it does not remain: by the midway point, the film escalates to the point of extreme, with Looney Tunes-style catastrophes and an effective, if not quite shocking, twist. The audience, however, will not warrant an answer out of the film: the journey they take with the family is both entertaining and horrifying, where the family's moral values, if they had any, are put to the test in increasingly compromising situations.

Themes of class division between rich and poor are prevalent throughout the twists and turns of the film, concluding with a bleak, yet satisfying payoff and a deafening ending, open for interpretations for years to come.

It's tough to say that Parasite wasn't without its flaws: it could have been leaner in runtime, the climax felt out-of-touch with the film's humane outlandishness, so on and so forth. But Bong Joon-ho has clearly learnt from his career; he hammers in the metaphors and foreshadowing, yes, but there is a defter handling of the subject matter. Removing the sci-fi approach that came with Snowpiercer and Okja, the skillful Korean director tells a human story warped into chaos with subtlety and empathy, and even with that change, you can still feel his touch: the framing of the characters, the pitch-black dialogue and barbs, the way he concludes an act,...they're all loving odes to his older works, existing and creeping onto your skin in Parasite.

The film's constant mood changes are unbearable, in the greatest sense of the word. The Kim family could be trading jabs one moment, only to find themselves in an unenviable position the next. Bong's handling of tense situations are unmatched: creeping in comical flavors in otherwise pitiful set-ups has been his trademark style of directing for years.

"...,Parasite finds writer-director Bong Joon-ho in near-total command of his craft", read the Rotten Tomatoes consensus, and it's hard to argue otherwise.

The Performances

'Parasite' Cast

Bong Joon-ho takes the audience on a carefully calculated journey through the eyes of the poor family of Ki-taek (Bong Joon-ho's amazing muse, Song Kang-ho), including confident, scheming mother Chong-sook (Jang Hye-jin), bright but cynical daughter Ki-jung/Jessica (the brilliant Park So-dam) and cunning, well spoken son Ki-woo/Kevin (Choi Woo-shik). Along for the ride is the family they all leech onto, the Park family (viscerally brought to life by Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Jung Ji-so and Jung Hyun-joon).

It's almost a cliche at this point to compliment Song Kang-ho in a Bong Joon-ho film, but he is bloody brilliant: as the clueless, sympathetic patriarch Ki-taek, he brings his utter A game to the role, lending the usual humorous demeanor to go alongside subtle traits and barbs he has throughout the film. One of the reasons I thought Okja was one of his weaker films was because of my incessant thinking of what Song Kang-ho could have brought to the table had he been in the film. Needless to say, I am pleased to see him in his wheelhouse, cementing his place as one of South Korea's greats.

The rest of the cast shouldn't go unnoticed also: rising stars are abound, and veterans bring their gravitas to otherwise typecast roles. There are more things to compliment regarding the performances, but I wouldn't give it away just to ruin such a delicious film.

The Cinematography and Set Design

One of many great set designs in the film

Bong Joon-ho has a very singular style of framing and production design, like that of many artistically-driven directors. But whereas, say, Wes Anderson makes his symmetrical framing a part of his quirky stories, or Christopher Nolan immerses the audience in his mind-bending tales, Bong Joon-ho elevates his message.

You'd be hard pressed to even notice that the houses were sets, and not living-breathing locations, and that's where Bong shines: he frames his story as such, to create a distant, unfamiliar feeling whilst you are in the Park house, but he minimizes the set and camerawork when you're in the rickety, stinky basement apartment with the Ki-taek family. It tells us more about their relationships than we would ever get from dialogue: the Ki-taek family are classless people living in the lowest neighborhood, unabridged with pissing passerbys and electrical contrivances, but they are a close-knit group who look out for each other, whereas the Park family live in a luxurious mansion, but are so consumed with materialism to ever stay in one room together. It's one of the most underrated, subtly brilliant piece of production design you'd see in a film nowadays.

The single evidence of how cinematography impacts this film, is when Ki-woo first enters the Park's casa. A dolly over-the-shoulder shot when he goes up the stairs suddenly turns into a sweeping mastershot encompassing the house and the garden, as well as Ki-woo's awe at the scene, all in one uncut take. The cinematography by Hong Kyung-pyo, who also lensed the utterly brilliant Burning, is atmospheric and moody in all the best sense, and establishes a scene long before a word is even spoken. The lensing of Parasite could turn a comedic moment into a deeply unsettling one, and at certain points, into a horror film.

Overall: A+

Hyped yet?

Parasite deserves all the praise, and is, in my opinion, the finest film of 2019, and it would be a difficult one to topple. Check it out before it leaves the cinema near you.

Someone give this man 200 million for him to make a social commentary on superheroes please! UPDATE: 'PARASITE' WON BEST PICTURE.