A Reel Review: PARASITE

In recent years, the films of South Korean director Bong Joon-ho have made the rare trek across borders and reaching American audiences…beginning with his 2006 monster film THE HOST, and again with his 2013 hit SNOWPIERCER. This year he returns with PARASITE, one of his most socially relevant films. 

A struggling family (played by Song Kang-ho, Chang Hyae-jin, Choi Woo-shik, and Park So-dam), weasel their way into the service of a rich family (Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong), where they discover a secret buried in the house. 

The early goings of PARASITE establish the family’s struggles to survive; not quite below the poverty line but darn close. They live in a basement (possibly squatting, not clear on that), steal wi-fi, and make meager cash by folding pizza boxes. When the son takes on a job with the rich family as a tutor, he and his family ursurp the current housekeeper and chauffer through dishonest ways. The family members aren’t portrayed as evil people, but instead just normal ones who have had a few bad breaks and are just trying to eat every day. 

Joon-ho is exploring class division here, and while the family is more than happy to take advantage of those who have more cash then they know what to do with, they become annoyed at that very thing that is servicing them. Later in the film, a whopper of a twist introduces another family that is up to the same thing, and their presence threatens their new jobs and healthy cash-flow. It starts to become a bloodbath at first, but in a clever, and quite brilliant late twist, the family eventually realizes just how alike they are with the newcomers. 

Joon-ho films a beautiful looking movie, even making the slum-like conditions in Korea nice to look at. He finds ways to ramp up the tension often, with an extended sequence of the entire family hiding in the house from their employers a highlight. The entire cast is excellent as Joon-ho gets great performances from everyone. 

The finale is a minor bloodbath with everything coming together in an avalanche. The film then offers one final twist for good measure, which is great as it happens but is then lessened by an un-necessary 10-minute epilogue. It’s a minor blemish on a monumental film, one that thrills, scares, and makes a hard statement on the state of the have’s and the have-nots. 

BOTTOM LINE: See it