Classic Film Review #2: Parasite (2019)

Available on: Amazon Prime

The award-winning, critically adored Parasite remains an appropriate parable for modern times, such is the panache with which it shines a light on our societal divisions.

Like much of director Bong Joon-ho's work, it does so in an acerbic way and is often laugh-out-loud funny. But that doesn't dim the impassioned plea of its message, which is that today's wealth divide is both absurd and grossly unfair.

Along with its sweeping changes in tone, what I love most about Parasite is that it encourages you (whether intentionally or otherwise) to root for the parasite that is the downtrodden Kim family, rather than deride their duplicitous infestation of an affluent family's life and home. In fact, there is no clear villain in Parasite - just a series of people existing within the trappings of their (arguably preordained) social sphere.

The juxtaposition between the Kim’s basement dwelling in the slums of Seoul and the sunlit, architect-designed mansion occupied by the affluent Park family serves as the perfect visual metaphor for Joon-ho’s tale. Equally masterful is the way the auteur builds toward the film's glorious crescendo, a most entertaining Tarantino-esque slice of absurdism involving basement escapes, a stoning, and death by kebab skewer.

Altogether, Parasite is both entertaining and masterful storytelling made all the better by the rich aesthetics of Joon-ho's distinctive directorial style.