So, this “lifestyle” section has been a film review corner to start, but in my defense, this time of year is when the best movies are released. I promise to review some clubs/bars very soon – in fact I have a review drafted on a cool place I went to last month. However, since this movie is all a-buzz right now, I wanted to get ahead of the reviews for my few readers out there.
Parasite – Directed by Bong Joon-ho
Parasite is a Korean film with English subtitles that has the film critic world on fire. In May of this year, the film won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, which is the highest honor given at that prestigious festival. I missed the film at the Chicago International Film Festival, so I jumped at the chance to see it in wide release on Thursday at one the known art movie houses in Chicago – the Landmark: https://www.landmarktheatres.com/chicago/century-centre-cinema
A bit about the director (who also wrote the film), Bong Joon-ho is an up and coming director for US audiences. Joon-ho’s win at Cannes was the first by a Korean filmmaker of that award. You may have seen his film, Snowpiercer, with Chris Evans about an entire society on a train with the poor at the back revolting against the luxury cars at the head of the train. Joon-ho definitely likes to make statements with his movies, so I was ready for something along those lines.
The story starts off simple enough. A lower class family of 4 who live in the literal basement of South Korean society – assuming in Seoul – and struggle to make any ends meet with both parents unemployed and the college aged, young adults not able to go to college due to finances. The family hustles by folding pizza boxes as a contractor to get every dollar they can to eat and live within their meager means. Then, the son’s friend presents a gift to the family, a stone that is supposed to bring prosperity. This friend also offers up an opportunity to the son to tutor a wealthy teenage girl in English, as long as he can present himself as a college graduate. The family moves into full mobilization to get the son able to keep such an opportunity.
The movie proceeds as the son (deftly played by Choi Woo-shik) slowly finds ways to get the rest of his family employed within the wealthy family’s walls. All of them having to pretend to be someone else and provide a needed service to the gullible, upper class family. The name of the film becomes apparent, as the entire family is literally feeding off the wealthy family via deception and concerted manipulation. At some point, the movie turns and proceeds to a place that you will have to see. The Joon-ho commentary becomes even more pronounced is all I’ll say.
Parasite is an extremely well crafted movie. Even with subtitles, the humor and subtlety of the plot was easy to follow. Joon-ho kept me on the edge of my seat, as despite the deception, I was rooting for this family and their come up and dramatic turn. As an American, I think we forget how our standard of living is beyond compare in this world. In other countries, like South Korea, the gulf between the haves and have nots (as portrayed in the film) is larger than we experience here. The healthy middle class in the US is something that I, for one, take for granted at times. Certainly, we have major issues with poverty, no question. However, the film really digs into that gulf and how the tension felt at a core level between those income levels plays out. Also, the level of competition for resources can be incredible at that lower rung.
As all of the 4 films I’ve reviewed in the past month have been, Parasite is an intense and at times dark picture. I definitely recommend the movie, but again, know what you are getting into here. There will be subtitles (easy to follow) and the dark side of the human spirit is explored here. I feel like seeing Joon-ho’s work is going to be studied for a while in film circles, and his ability to mix humor and moral ambiguity is a mark of real genius.
Hope you can catch this movie, as it will certainly be in consideration for awards in January and February.
Wegs