Parasite Review

 (A version of this article originally appeared on kernelnow.com / mynewslike.com)

There was a moment, seconds before Jane Fonda announced Parasite as the first international and 92^nd overall Best Picture Academy Award winner, where in the midst of the most pregnant pause in awards ceremony history one thing became abundantly clear: there was not a single force in this universe that would allow that envelope to read the name of any other film.

It’s an assurance that will be abundantly clear to just about anyone that takes the journey through this spectacular film – and looking at the post-Oscars box office numbers, many are. One of South Korea’s greatest filmic financial successes, Parasite follows the poor Kim family as they individually infiltrate the home of the successful Parks, referring each other for jobs so as to siphon off as much of their wealthy employers’ money for themselves as possible.

A thousand guesses will never help you figure out what Yeon-gyo (Cho Yeo-jeong) is shocked at here
(source: NEON/CJ Entertainment)

Of course, as you’ve no doubt heard, the film is about much more than that. To say exactly what happens next would be of detriment to the film’s viewing experience but as its trailer says, “you expect (it) to be one thing but it mutates into something else” – this may be one of the all-time most accurate trailer quotes. Part social thriller, part horror and even part sci-fi – the easy Western comparison is to Get Out, but this is a reductive statement that does little justice to the work or career of Bong Joon-ho. This film delivers much of what titles like Get Out promised to, but whereas race issues in North America were always a bit too close to home to fully affect a wider audience, the truly unfamiliar setting of the South Korean class divide allows for this message to hit home worldwide.

The on-screen treatment is surely just as unfamiliar to a global audience, as this is a side of South Korea that most might be blind to. The expected blue-hued skyscrapers and neon lights are nowhere to be seen, as this is the dark guts of a nation that a casual spectator might be unable – or unwilling – to see. Where we have seen Shane Meadows’s tribal Britain or Martin Scorsese’s gangland America, we now have Bong Joon-ho’s South Korea as a glimpse into the gritty undercrust of such an advanced nation. Hong Kyung-pyo’s cinematography is a rolling and brave affair too, daring to reveal in wide pulls as much as it rocks with fluid intrusion.

Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) in one of the film’s more obvious visual metaphors
(source: NEON/CJ Entertainment)

Parasite may have taken home a sheath of statuettes in its record-breaking award season run, but there has been little recognition for the film’s actors. If there is an understandable reason that no one player was nominated for their role, it is that their roles are so hard to define. The lead character changes in a wistful, slight way – from father to son then daughter, then a drag or switch of momentum bringing the return of any one to the spotlight. That’s just in the methodical first half of the film, too; once your heart has recovered from the immense and shocking central turn that is the film’s fifteen-minute midpoint, the members of the Kim family convene not just to work through the change in their metered plan but to also deliver an enthralling finale for the viewer. If ever there was an argument for awards to more broadly recognise ensemble performances, then Song Kang-ho, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam and Jang Hye-jin are here to lead it as skilfully as they do this film.

The Kims – parasites with a hive mind
(source: NEON/CJ Entertainment)

There is a one-inch tall elephant in the room, though – subtitles. Contrary to popular belief, little words at the bottom of a screen are not really a distraction – just like an alien world or a black-and-white filter, it’s just something you need to overcome in order to surrender to the picture. The problem is that so many will not heed Joon-ho’s advice, which is to look past this slight barrier to accept such an amazing film.

The coarse truth of any movie review is that the same rating system must be applied to all films, regardless of genre or, more importantly, context. Is Parasite a “five-star film” in the same vein as The Godfather, or Toy Story, or The Dark Knight? No. This is a first of its kind, and so there will never again be any “five-star film” quite like it. Moreover, this is not just the best release of the filmic year nor merely the Academy’s boldest award in years, but instead a genuinely game-changing film. It is one that will not just form the yardstick by which all future award bodies will be judged but also a film that will surely inspire a generation of film-makers across the world as viewers and historians alike will come to know one truth: however you look at it, there is no ‘Best Picture’ like Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.