Parasite - Review

 

Parasite

I'm a little late to the party with Bong Joon Ho's multi-award winning Parasite but in this case it is definitely better late than never. The film follows the interweaving of two very different families, the lowly Kims and the wealthy Parks, as the Kims try to better their station in life by working for the Park family. The theme of class difference and trying to survive in a capitalist society run deep in Ho's work, yet Parasite is the subtler brother of the earlier Snowpiercer. 

Smell plays a large part in Parasite. From the very first frames, the audience can almost tangibly smell and feel the scenes playing out on screen. From the overcrowded sub-basement home of the Kim family, to the wealth of peaches in the Park house, to the comically overflowing toilet; this film wafts through the screen. In the opening dialogue, the Kims' house is strewn with pizza boxes they are folding, drying clothes, dirty tiles, and a man regularly urinates outside their window. The following day, their street is being fumigated, and whilst Ki-jung shouts to close the window, Mr Kim asserts "No, leave it open, free fumigation." Early on, it is clear there is a degree of dark comedy, I found the absurdity of the toilet elevated high and towering over the confined bathroom space very comical; little realising the importance of this later on. Another highlight is the Kims' attempting to find signal in their home, and then sitting in a prayer-like circle stating "we are gathered here to celebrate the reconnection of our phones and this bountiful wi-fi."

Bong Joon Ho pokes at authority, tradition and the concept of class, and yet bizarrely highlights the value and strength of the family unit. The Kims are surprisingly intelligent, resourceful, and wily, whilst the Parks are gullible, easily fooled and manipulated. Ultimately a reason for a lot of their undoing, is the Parks' inability to be totally honest with each other (this would have quickly unravelled a lot of the Kims' lies) and ultimately have been taken advantage of by two different poorer families. Parasite is deliberately titled to ambiguously call attention to this paradox; who is/are the real parasites here? At first glance perhaps it is the Kims, invading the established lives of the Parks and using them to further their own lives. Alternatively, is it in fact the Parks who despite not seeming to have any more skills or intelligence than the Kims have been able to afford to live in luxury? Mrs Park does not seem to work, nor particularly look after her house, or her children, "she has no talent for housework, she is bad at cooking and cleaning"; surely the definition of a parasitic existence. On a meta level, parasite could even refer to the system itself that allows the poor to literally and figuratively rip each other to shreds fighting over the scraps left by those at the top. 

Interestingly, the film plays on the idea of class and levels not just through scent and the title, but also through physical levels and elevation. The Kims are lower than street level, lower than a man urinating in the street, lower than their own toilet, and during the close call when the Parks return early from a camping trip, their movements are downhill all the way. This is also highlighted when there is torrential rain; the Kims' whole house and street is flooded in sewage water, whereas the Park family are unaffected by the rain, with Mrs Park simply stating how nice a day after weather like that is. The commitment to creating these spaces that can be so eloquently used in this way is admirable; both homes were built specifically for the film, including the Seoul neighbourhood that the Kims' home is located in. 

My favourite shots are hard to define, there are so many well constructed moments, but for me the highlights are; the bunker scenes, the Kim family in the house whilst the Parks are away, and one moment as the Parks leave, where a garage door closes slowly on Mrs Kim, like heavy theatre curtains drawing a close on their act.

Parasite somehow manages to be thought-provoking, gripping, horrific and thoroughly entertaining throughout its fairly long runtime, and whilst I initially gave it a 9/10, upon reflection I've amended this to a 10, as I can't think of any substantial way in which it would be improved.

Rating: 10/10 

Similar films: Snowpiercer, You Were Never Really Here, Uncut Gems, Joker, The Guest