Parasite is the latest from South Korean auteur Bong Joon-Ho. It’s a genre blend with elements of dark comedy, suspense, and heist movies. And it’s also a look at current class relations.
A small family that lives in a crappy “sub-basement” apartment are struggling. The Mom and Dad can’t find work and the son and daughter can’t afford to go to college. The son, Ki-Woo, gets a job to tutoring a rich high school student. Getting the job requires the help of a rich friend and a little conning. After he gets his foot in the door he recommends someone he knows offhand (who is actually his sister) as the art tutor for the rich girl’s little brother. Slowly, Ki-Woo’s entire family ends up working for the rich family and their cons get bigger. And that’s all I can say without getting into spoilers.
Everyone seems to be talking about the twists near the end, but the movie really grabs you from the start. It pulls you in and makes you relate to characters. Even if you don’t agree with them you feel their suspense. The acting is pitch-perfect. There’s some phenomenal visual storytelling. And it has a point a view on class relations that ends up growing more complex as the story unfolds.
I was really entertained by this movie, but I think I need to watch it again to fully get everything it was trying to do.