IS “PARASITE” THE MOVIE OF OUR TIME?
THE KIM FAMILY STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE IN THE SOUTH KOREAN FILM “PARASITE.”
The family at the heart of South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s engrossing, disturbing and ultimately rewarding “Parasite,” the film that won this year’s Palme d’Or honor at Cannes, could be just like any nuclear family on the block.
There are caring parents — dad Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) and mom Kim Chung-sook (Hye-jin Jang) — and two smart teenage kids, son Kim Ki-woo (Choi woosik) and daughter Kim Ki-jung (So-dam Park). But they live in a small, squalid basement apartment, where the sight of a passerby urinating outside their streetlevel window qualifies as nightly entertainment. Worse, they’re all out of work, taking what jobs they can find — like folding pizza boxes (poorly, unfortunately) — for a local restaurant.
So when a college-age friend of Ki-woo informs him that he’s leaving town and needs someone to take over his tutoring responsibility for the daughter of the monied Park family, Ki-woo jumps at the chance for a little extra cash. By contrast to the Kims, the Parks live in sprawling, modernist luxury in a minimalist mansion designed by a famous architect. Mr. Park (Lee Sun-kyun) has some cool but nameless tech exec job while Mrs. Park (Jo Yeo-jeong) has little to do but shop and dote on her two children, teenage Da-hye (Ji-so Jung) and a young boy, Da-song (Hyun-jun Jung).
As the Kims don’t mind putting a little grift in their game, Ki-woo hatches a plot to get his sister a job working for the Parks. Faster than you can say “Gangnam Style,” all the Kims have ingratiated themselves into the upscale world of the Parks — though the Parks have no idea they’re all related. But anyone who thinks that this will lead to some happily-ever-after outcome isn’t familiar with the work of Bong Joon-ho, the man who gave us class warfare on a train in “Snowpiercer” and a monster on the loose in “The Host.”
What happens next is best left for moviegoers to discover for themselves. But if much of the first part of the movie recalls the sweetness of the 2018 Japanese film “Shoplifters,” which also focused on a poor family doing anything to get by, “Parasite” — which taps into the fears and frustrations of class friction — ultimately goes for something darker and more twisted. While outwardly friendly and welcoming, the Parks — who, no doubt, consider themselves as “good people,” think nothing of grousing about how the Kims smell. On the flip side, the Kims have to lie daily to maintain their newfound rung on this ladder that they think will lead them to middle-class prosperity.
Bong Joon-ho slowly cranks up the tension so that what at first seems like a lark to make some money turns seriously life
threatening. While fans of Asian cinema in general and this director in particular have been singing his praises for years, “Parasite” may be the work that makes him more of a household name. Many of the best elements from his previous films are on display here, and if there’s one film that should serve as an introduction to his style, it’s this one.
(It’s also worth noting that, within the last year, there have been three, largely foreign-langauge films widely seen in the U.S. — the aforementioned “Shoplifters,” “The Farewell” and now “Parasite” — that make the internal tensions in Asian families a central focus.)
“Parasite” was a huge hit in South Korea and has
captured the imagination of film-festival attendees the world over, including taking home the audience award at Austin’s Fantastic Fest. Some have drawn parallels between “Parasite” and “Joker,” as both deal with the tumult of economic anxiety and class resentment. But if “Joker” hinges on one powerful performance set in a universe that’s like ours but not quite, “Parasite” feels more grounded in the reality of the everyday.
Not many people know someone terrifying like the Joker. But we all know the Kims and the Parks. Or we are them. And, sometimes, that can be equally terrifying.