Parasite (2019) - South Korea
Reviewed by Andrew Chan (Film Critics Circle of Australia)
One of the best films of the year comes in the form of “Parasite” from veteran South Korean director Bong Joon-ho. With all hype around the film and the additional Oscar buzz, “Parasite” delivers as a highly entertaining and engaging affair that grapple you with laughs, social commentary and plenty of black comedy situations. It’s a classic act and a pure example of perfect filmmaking and an ensemble cast that are so captivating in their performances. This is a brilliant film experience and one that transcends normal genre boundaries with great effect.
Director Bong speaks volumes about class and social disparities by depicting vividly through visuals of sub-basement, basement within social satires about class and inequality are a rarity.
Kang-Ho Song leads the ensemble cast with one of his best laid back yet intensifying performance in his career. Song is at ease with his position as a parasite, lowly ranked and living in a sub-basement unable to provide or support his family. Choi Woo-shik plays the son and con-man who becomes absorbed into the world of class and higher society ambitions. Park So-dam is always wonderful with her raw and emotional acting as a psychologist/art teacher and Choi’s sister. Lee Sun Gyun plays the rich head of household and CEO with plenty of money to play with. Lee shines in the car scenes with Kang and along with his wife played by (the sexually exploitative Cho Yeo-jeong). Cho have come a long way from B-list sexually revealing flicks to become a truly A-list actress.
There are many aspect of this film that is worthy of paying more detailed attention towards. There are so much at stake, the conning, the family dynamics, the ultra rich and extremely poor and the simply generation of up and coming that are at lost with zero hopes and dreams. We see desperation between parasites and the lowly class pitted against one another other. The rich uses the poor to do chores and dirt to help present themselves to the world as some kind of higher society and order. It’s an unfair world out there and director Bong delivers all the right marks and in turn created a masterpiece. By the end of the film, the audience are profoundly in deep thoughts as we see ourselves in the mirror seeing the “parasite” within us.
I rated it 9.5/10
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