Parasite (2019)

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Parasite (2019) – J.-H. Bong

Like many Korean films (by Bong Joon-ha, Park Chan-wook, and their contemporaries), Parasite is somewhat unclassifiable – is it a thriller, a black comedy, or something more sui generis? Certainly, it is undeniably about social class, making it hugely relevant for this moment in time.  The Kim family (led by Bong regular Song Kang-ho) are down-and-out but pragmatic and scrappy, they make ends meet through a variety of part-time jobs and little scams, suffering various indignities as a result of their low status (customers from a nearby pub literally piss on their sub-basement flat).  However, things change when son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik) is recommended to be a tutor to a rich high school girl by his friend who is leaving the position to study abroad; although he hasn’t gone to university himself, he is quick-thinking enough to fake his way into the role. This is easier because the mother of the rich Park family (Jo Yeo-jeong) is fragile and gullible, easily convinced to make changes to her family’s situation to ward off various threats.  And, thus, rather comically, the entire Kim family is soon employed in a variety of positions by the Parks who do not know their “servants” are all related and conning them.  Or are they?  The Kims might actually be providing genuine services to the Parks, parasitic though they might be (a kinder word would be symbiotic).  Nevertheless, the Parks (particularly father Lee Sun-kyun) do look down on the Kims (making their position dependent on continually pleasing the rather capricious bosses); as a result, the Kims resent and take advantage of the Parks whenever they can.   Things get weirder when competition among the lower class erupts and the Kims need to fight to maintain their cushy position, living off the Parks’ largesse. If this sounds like reality, then Bong has done his job, although the final reel might need more analysis then I can commit without spoilers.  Parasite won the Palme D’or this year at Cannes but it isn’t always an easy or satisfying watch – but ultimately thought-provoking and pessimistic.