ALSO SHOWING

PARASITE (15)

WICKEDLY entertaining, genre-bending satire, which gleefully inhabits the cavernous divide between South Korea’s haves and have-nots. The double Bafta-winning movie is certain to convert some of its six Oscar nominations into golden statuettes.

Wily patriarch Kim Ki-tek (Song Kang-ho) presides over a family of con artists, including his sharp-tongued wife Chung-sook (Chang Hyae-jin), mild-mannered son Ki-woo (Choi Wooshik) and daughter Ki-jung (Park So-dam, pictured with Choi). They live in a squalid basement apartment in a poor neighbourhood of Seoul.

Good fortune smiles unexpectedly on Ki-woo when good friend Minhyuk (Park Seo-joon) recommends him as an English tutor for teenager Park Da-hae (Jeong Ji-so).

Ki-woo falsifies his qualifications to impress Da-hae’s wealthy parents (Cho Yeo-jeong and Lee Sun-kyun). Once he has earned the couple’s misplaced trust, Ki-woo recommends a college friend called Jessica as an art therapist for

Da-hae’s younger brother, Da-song (Jung Hyeon-jun). Sister Ki-jung arrives in the guise of Jessica and passes off theories from the internet as her personal philosophy to unlock a child’s potential. Ki-tek and Chung-sook also seek positions under false pretences. However, the suspicions of housekeeper Mun-kwang (Lee Jung-eun) threaten to expose the deception.

Parasite is a lip-smacking delight, which divides our sympathy as moral compasses are wilfully ignored in pursuit of happiness.

UNDERWATER (15)

KRISTEN STEWART stars as Nora Price, a mechanical engineer at a drilling station at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean in director William Eubank’s sci-fi horror.

A devastating tremor causes the structure to implode and most of the crew perish. Nora sprints to a temporary safe haven with engineer Rodrigo (Mamoudou Athie) and is reunited with Captain Lucien (Vincent Cassell) and three fellow survivors – research assistant Emily (Jessica Henwick), her sweetheart Liam (John Gallagher Jr) and oaf Paul (TJ Miller). An energy core meltdown will decimate what remains of the facility so the group slip into pressurised body suits and undertake a perilous one-mile walk along the bottom of the ocean to a neighbouring station.

In the inky void, the group encounters a small, deformed creature that appears to be feeding on bodies of co-workers. “It’s probably not a good time to ask but is that a baby?” quips Paul, as something larger and deadlier floats unseen a few metres away.

Underwater doesn’t waste time treading aqua before Stewart and co-stars are soaked, bleeding and staring death in the face. The script’s hurried approach gives us little time to contemplate minor crimes against logic or clunky dialogue.