Parasite (2019) Movie Review
Parasite (2019) Movie Review
On February 24, 2019, I sat in my living room watching the 91st Academy Awards. Julia Roberts walked onto the stage to announce the Best Picture winner. So many movies had been nominated: BlacKkKlansman, Black Panther, Roma, A Star Is Born, and more. I sat in anticipation, waiting to see which film would be given the big prize. Green Book ended up winning Best Picture that night. I didn’t see it coming at all. Green Book? Did anyone even like that movie? I became intrigued in seeing Green Book just because it won the award, and meant to review it, but I never quite got around to it. Months past. The year became 2020. It was time for the 92nd Academy Awards. On February 9, 2020, I once again found myself watching the Oscars on the TV in my living room. Finally the moment came: Best Picture was about to be announced. Nine films had been nominated: Ford v Ferrari (you can check that review out on the website), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (you can check that review out as well), The Irishman, Joker, 1917, Jojo Rabbit, Marriage Story, Little Women, and Parasite, which had already won a bunch of awards that night. Jane Fonda walked up to announce the winner. It was Parasite. I was shocked. It had already won so many awards! Lots of other good movies were nominated! It wasn’t even an American movie! I hadn’t even seen Parasite but I was disappointed that it had won Best Picture. Sure, it had gotten good reviews, but you can only have such a positive opinion of a movie you know nothing about. Eventually I decided that I wanted to see this movie for myself and give it a proper review. I had missed out on seeing Green Book, so I didn’t want to miss Parasite. I’m happy to say that Parasite is about to get another positive review.
The descriptions of the movie online are kinda vague and the trailer reveals very little about the movie, so I’ll try my best to give it a good description/synopsis without really spoiling it. The Kim family, made up of the father Ki-taek (Kang-Ho Song), the mother Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), the son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik), and the daughter Ki-jung (Park So-dam), are a financially unsuccessful family living in South Korea. As a family, their only source of income is folding pizza boxes for a local pizza business. Their luck changes when Ki-woo’s friend Min-hyuk (Park Seo-joon) visits them and gives them a special stone that is supposed to bring financial luck. Min-hyuk is going away to study abroad and trusts Ki-woo to substitute in for Min-hyuk’s job as an English tutor for the teenage daughter in a very rich local family. Ki-woo is hesitant but goes to meet his tutee Da-hye (Jeong Ji-so) and her mother Yeon-kyo (Cho Yeo-jeong), members of the wealthy Park family. Once Ki-woo gets on good terms with the Park family and is receiving a lot of money from them, he gets the idea to set his whole family up with jobs working for the Park family. This way, they would finally have some money. Ki-jung becomes the art therapist for Da-song (Jeong Hyun-joon), the family’s spastic young son, Ki-taek becomes the Park family’s official driver, and Chung-sook becomes the housekeeper. However, to get these jobs, the Kim family has to get rid of the people who already have them. Thus, it becomes a secret that they are all related to each other. The Park family has no idea that all their new workers are related; and the Kim family is essentially the Park family’s parasite. Things get complicated when some people who used to have the jobs the Kim family stole realize what the Kims are doing. It then becomes a dark battle for the Kim family to keep the secret that they are all related while several people are working to expose them.
I’m not even sure how to describe Parasite. I guess I literally just did, but I’m not sure what type of movie this really is. If I had to say, it would be a mix between a thriller and a drama; I’ve heard it described as a black comedy, which it is, but there’s really nothing funny about this film. Don’t go into Parasite thinking you’ll laugh. It’s only “funny” in a more ironic sense. Either way, this is a really interesting movie in a lot of ways. It does provide some well-executed commentary about class and wealth in a way that can be understood by everyone, no matter where they’re from. As someone who has a very limited exposure to Asian culture, watching a movie like Crazy Rich Asians (check out that review too) I couldn’t help but feel a little detached. Watching Parasite I felt like I could immediately connect, even though the movie’s plot is nothing like my reality. The movie feels very real, like something that could actually happen, even though it’s just so insane. The whole time you’re watching Parasite you’re on edge. The movie keeps you interested by ramping up the tension and then defying all expectations at every turn. Going into the movie completely blind like I did, there’s just no way anyone could predict the film’s ending. You can’t help but root for the Kim family, even though what they do is kind of terrible. Most of the characters are a little crazy in some way or another; the only ones who aren’t are the Park family, who are completely oblivious to the intricate schemes going on inside their own house. Parasite is equal parts dream and nightmare. It exploits what we know about our own modern society and how we perceive people of other social classes. Bong Joon-ho, whose Oscar speeches didn’t impress me much, directed this film astonishingly well. You’re constantly left guessing, but all questions are answered. So many times in the movie I thought to myself, “no way this is about to happen.” Then something even crazier happened. It has the house-of-horrors vibe that The Shining has without ever being truly scary, just thrilling. Most of the cast nail their performances as well. Kang-Ho Song is brilliant as Ki-taek, a father driven to the edge just trying to get his family money. Cho Yeo-jeong is perfect in her role as Yeon-kyo, the enthusiastic yet oblivious mother of the Park family. There’s no one to really root for or against, each group of characters is being wronged. Parasite forces you to pay attention.
I don’t have much to complain about really. I wouldn’t call this a perfect movie, it probably isn’t the type of film that will really move you, and at the end of the day those are the kind of films that become my favorites. But it’s ok that Parasite isn’t like that. If I had any criticism for it, it would be that it does kinda switch vibes often. Sometimes it’s a bloody struggle, other times it’s pretty chill. But it’s kinda hard to really criticize that; in a way the tone-switching works in the film’s favor. It makes Parasite that much harder to simply describe.
Safety chart:
Violence: 7/10 - People are stabbed, knocked out, and killed. There are some relatively intense scenes of fighting and murder.
Language: 7/10 - There’s a good amount of profanity in this movie, all in subtitles for English speakers to see perfectly.
Drinking/smoking: 5/10 - Almost all of the adult characters drink. Ki-jung is a smoker. Characters talk about getting drunk and doing drugs, although nobody actually does any drugs.
Overall, I recommend Parasite for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the movies. It’s a one-of-a-kind mix of art, style, and intelligence. Even if you’re not into arty movies or films from other cultures, you should honestly still be able to appreciate Parasite and what makes it so good. I know I just gave this a super positive review, but I’m gonna have to confirm that this movie is a little overhyped. It’s nothing lifechanging or even that eye-opening but it is super well-made and succeeds at being effective, entertaining, and enthralling. I’m gonna give Parasite an A as a grade. There’s just not much to dislike.
