Bong Joon-ho, one of South Korea’s most prolific filmmakers, decided to grace the world with one of the most bizarre and fascinating movies of 2019. Parasite movie is about a poor family steadily infiltrating the household of their upper-class employers through fraud, by pretending to be more qualified, educated, and prestigious than they are in order to swipe the job openings and be overpaid in doing so. Without giving away too much, hijinks ensue.
Many critics are calling Parasite one of the best movies of the year. I concur. It’s very hard to review this movie without spoiling it, so if you wish to avoid that, just skip to the final paragraph.
I went into Parasite completely blind. I only knew the director, Bong Joon-ho, the poster, and the title. I was expecting a horror movie. In fact, I was so convinced that it was a horror movie, that halfway through the film when a massive revelation involving the family’s housemaid is revealed, I fully expected it to turn into a horror film at that point. I was completely unable to predict what was happening in this movie, and that mystery is something that most movies and TV shows try to create, but few succeed in doing so. Subverting expectations and executing twists and turns effectively is certainly an art. I think Bong Joon-ho deserves credit for being consistent at keeping his audience on his toes in his films and for juggling atmospheric twists exceedingly well.
And boy, does Parasite take you on a roller coaster of “That was funny!” to “What the hell did I just watch?” in the best way possible. If you’re a fan of heist films, dark comedies, or both, Parasite easily is in the upper tier of both genres. If you’re a fan of Bong Joon-ho, this might be his best-directed film thus far. If you’re a fan of Song Kang-ho, this is one of his best performances. If you’re a fan of good cinema, Parasite is certainly a good movie.
