"Parasite" review

A nice reminder that we can either die in the gutter or succeed hard enough to become dumb.



While director Bong Joon-Ho has built his entire career telling stories of the struggles of the working class, toiling under a fallible society susceptible to the corrupting influence of power and the many forms that it can take, "Parasite" may be the most direct tackling of the subject matter that he's ever dealt with.

Perhaps even more direct than his post apocalyptic science fiction movie about the proletariat revolting against the upper class visualized through the metaphor of fighting through increasingly extravagant train cars on a train conducted by the 1% in a global warming induced snowstorm hellscape.

As the Kim family struggles to make ends meet in their messy basement apartment, bumming WiFi from outsiders and leaving window open during street insect fumigations to get free pest control, son Ki-woo falls into a prestigious opportunity to become the English tutor of the teenage daughter of the wealthy and influential Park family.

Upon discovering how far his earnings will go, he immediately conspires to have the rest of his family hired in servant positions at the Park estate, under the guise of being unrelated acquaintances, and usually via unethical sabotage of those already in these positions.

Taking advantage of stupidity and naivete bred by privilege, the Kim family gorges on the fruits of their labor until they're confronted with the consequences that they could face, legally, physically, and mentally, if they don't execute a legitimate exit strategy.

Dark twists that build aside, "Parasite" is one of its director's most straight forward narratives in years. Social commentary applicable to society both Eastern and Western alike regarding class perception, hubris despite well meaning intentions, and the tangible and intangible results of moral decay are all dressed up in a delicious sense of dark humor that builds until gears shift in its third act in a way that you almost want to punish yourself for not seeing coming until you realize it wouldn't be any more jaw dropping if you had.

Bong exercises some masterful direction, utilizing the charming performances of his immensely talented cast to make you really root for people that are playing a weapons-grade con game.

Even if they weren't brought to life via such excellent actors, anybody that has struggled week to week to eat and make rent can sympathize with their plight and solution of leeching off of an ignorant and apathetic upper class until you realize, through hammered home metaphor that's just exaggerated enough to be shocking but not enough to be unrealistic, that nobody should take pride in being a parasite, raising the question of where exactly does noble intent go so horribly wrong.

"Parasite" is a film that has a lot on its mind and probably could have benefitted from a 5-10 minute touch up in editing but the movie is never bogged down by its statement on what society does to human desire.

It's funny when its a comedy, unsettling when it's a thriller, and surprisingly touching and even slightly melancholic when it has to be a drama. When it gets to do all 3 of those things at once, it's one of the best films of the year by a wide margin.

9 Proletariat Infiltrations out of 10