Directed by Bong Joon Ho

Starring: Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo

Rated R for language, some violence and sexual content

Wow, I am in genuine shock how great of a film “Parasite” is. For starters, “Parasite” is a film that says so much without having to say anything. What do I mean? Well, take the plot of the film. “Parasite” is about a poor family that slowly infiltrates and gains the trust of a wealthy, upper middle class family in South Korea by misleading the wealthy family. But soon enough, things turn awry for the poor family and do their best to keep their secrets.

That description, at best, does not give out any plot detail because “Parasite” has so many twists and turns. In the first act of the film, I expected the film to go a certain way. Without giving any plot points, I thought the film would be a comedy heist, just because of the light mood the film started with. I can assure you that this film is certainly from light and is not a comedy heist. But halfway into the film, the film takes a dark turn and I thought the film would be a horror film, due to director Bong Joon Ho’s excellent camera work. There are so much in store for anyone who watches the film and will certainly enjoy those twists.

But as mentioned before, the halfway point of the film has a horror element to it. Never have I been so tensed in a scene. Director Bong Joon Ho does an excellent job for terrifying the audience, even though this is not a horror film. There were so many scenes where I was on the edge of my seat. And not all tense moments are scary, some are just everyday regular things. Adding to these scenes, the score truly does elevate other moments as well. There is one scene in particular where the rich father (played by Sun-kyun Lee) is just walking up the steps to talk to his wife, (played by Yeo-jeong Jo) after finding something out about a worker. That scene sounds just a normal scene, but the music in the scene somehow makes it more interesting than it is. I loved moments like this because the score compliments the film very well.

All the actors in the film also do a terrific job. But the characters the actors played made me very sympathetic. On one hand, we have a family struggling to make ends meet and have to rely on lies to do so. On the other, we have a wealthy family who want what is best for themselves and have servants to protect themselves. But a part of me also realizes that both families were guilty of being unsympathetic as well. The poor family has to lie and cheat to gain the trust of wealthy family, who are just so out of touch from the people who are struggling. The best scene that perfectly shows the class division is when one wealthy character, who is doing her makeup in a luxurious closet with beautiful clothes, is calling another character on the phone, who is in a gym with hundreds of other people and worn out clothes and trying to find some new clothes to wear in a pile of used clothes. As I alluded earlier, “Parasite” says so much about wealth and how class division is occurring all around the world, without having to say a word about it at all. Writers Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-won perfectly use the phrase “show, don’t tell” into their screenplay.

I applaud “Parasite” for being a smart and tense film that takes the audience along for a ride. I did not expect “Parasite” to be as good as a film as it is. I highly recommend to view “Parasite”, it is certainly a treat for all audiences they will enjoy.

4/4