An unstoppable fierce tragicomedy
Bong Joon-ho’s film “Parasite” starts in a dingy, half-basement apartment with a family of four barely able to scratch out a life. There must be no place to go but up, right? Yes and no. There’s nothing predictable when the South Korean director is on his game.
This dark, socially conscious film about the intertwining of two families is an intricately plotted adult thriller. We can go up, for sure, but Bong can also take us deeper down. There’s always an extra floor somewhere in this masterpiece.
It tells the story of the impoverished four-person Kim family who, one-by-one, and with careful and devious planning, all get employed by the four-person affluent Park family — as a tutor, an art teacher, a driver and a housekeeper. They are imposters stunned by the way wealth can make things easier: “Money is an iron. It smooths out all the creases,” says the Park patriarch with wonder.
Bong, who directed and wrote the story for “Parasite,” picked his title carefully, of course. Naturally, he’s alluding to the sycophantic relationship by a clan of scammers to the clueless rich who have unwittingly opened the doors of their home on a hill. But it’s not that simple. The rich family seem incapable of doing anything — from dishes to sex — without help. Who’s scamming who?
Bong’s previous films play with film genres and never hide their social commentary — think of the environmentalist pig-caper “Okja” and the dystopian sci-fi global warming scream “Snowpiercer.” But this time, Bong’s canvas is a thousand times smaller and his focus light-years more intense.
The two Korean families first make contact when a friend of the Kim’s son asks him to take over English lessons for the Park daughter. Soon the son (Choi Woo-sik) convinces them to hire his sister (Park So-dam) as an art teacher, but doesn’t reveal it’s his sis. She forges her diploma and spews arty nonsense she learned on the Internet, impressing the polite but Park matriarch (Jo Yeo-jeong.)
The Park’s regular chauffeur is soon let go and replaced by the Kim patriarch (Lee Sunkyun). Ditto the housemaid, who is dumped in favor of the Kims’ mother (Jang Hye-jin.) All eight people seem happy with the new arrangement until Bong reveals a twist.
Bong’s trademark slapstick is still here but the rough edges of his often too-loud lessons are shaved down nicely and his actors step forward. “Keep it focused,” the Kim’s son counsels his father at one point. Bong has followed that advice.
There are typically dazzling Bong touches throughout such as when the rich matriarch skillfully winds noodles in a bowl while, in another room, duct tape is being wrapped around a victim and classical music plays. “Parasite” was a worthy winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.