Winner of the Palme d’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival
a Bong Joon Ho film
Plot (Spoiler Alert)
An unemployed family of four manage to get jobs working for a rich family by conning their way in.
Blaine: Bong Joon Ho likes to see things in life that’ll help inspire him for movie ideas. For “Parasite” it was just an idea that popped up inside Bong’s head while he was working on his 2014 film, “Snowpiercer”. Of course Bong may have gotten a little inspiration from “Snowpiercer” because that film involved people who were rich and poor. “Parasite” was meant to be a short film in the beginning, but Bong said he was getting several images inside his head just by standing inside one house and so the project expanded and became a full length feature instead. “Parasite” isn’t thought of as any genre film to it’s creator Bong Joon Ho. I think all that matters is what you feel as you are watching it. One of the feelings I get from watching “Parasite” is cleverness. Bong had several ideas coming to him as he was writing the script and he just wrote down what sounded good to him. The movies Bong Joon Ho is best known for belong in the sci-fi department and he is aware the title “Parasite” does sound like something sci-fi, but certain words can mean other things.
The Kim family, Ki-taek, Chung-sook, Ki-woo and Ki-jung, are an interesting group of people. They are smart, useful, responsible and they are the type of people who are right for any job, but the reason they are unemployed is because there is not enough jobs out there, which is similar to what happens in real life. They live in a basement. Good news is things are about to get much better for them.
A close friend of Ki-woo’s manages to help him get a job and advices him to play pretend. The job is to be an English tutor for a rich person’s daughter. That was something based on Bong Joon Ho’s life. Bong was a tutor for a rich family during his college years and it only lasted two months because he was fired after that. The reason was because the stuff Bong would discuss with the student was off topic from what he was supposed to be teaching. Ki-woo goes to tutor Da-hye and her mother Mrs. Park watches Ki-woo to observe his professionalism and she is very impressed. Ki-woo is very calm and believes he can do this. That is just the beginning of the family going from being unemployed to having jobs where the pay is good. One by one, the Kim family manage to help each other out so the whole family can have jobs. Ki-woo learns that Mrs. Park’s son is into art and coincidental Ki-woo’s sister, Ki-jung, has been studying art all her life. There’s no telling if the Park family will hire Ki-jung. They think Ki-woo might recommend her just because she is his family. It’s all about how good they can be at their job. So Ki-woo says Ki-jung is a friend of his cousin’s and tells Mrs. Park Ki-jung’s qualities.
Ki-jung goes over what her backstory is supposed to be with Ki-woo before entering the Park house. Ki-jung sings the backstory with Ki-woo. There’s a name for what they are doing and it’s called “Jessica Jingle”. It’s the only way Ki-jung will remember the backstory. Of course Ki-jung is clever like the rest of her family and like Ki-woo, Ki-jung manages to impress Mrs. Park. Ki-jung uses the right words in order to brain wash Mrs. Park.
The next thing to do is to help Ki-taek and Chung-sook work at the Park house and the only way to do that is to sabotage the employment of two workers. Ki-woo gets Ki-jung a job and now it’s her turn to do the same for her father, Ki-taek. Ki-jung gets the Park family driver fired by making it look like he has been having intercourse in the car. Ki-taek takes the driver’s place and now he has a job. The last family member who needs a job is Chung-sook and Ki-woo, Ki-jung and Ki-taek work as a team on this one. Moon-gwang, the housekeeper, is allergic to peaches and the Kims use little bits of it on Moon-gwang like dust in the air. They convince Mrs. Park that Moon-gwang has tuberculosis. Moon-gwang is out and Chung-sook is in. Although Moon-gwang was a hard working employee and it’s hard for Mrs. Park to let her go. The Kim family will do whatever they can in order to survive.
Mrs. Park is easily fooled because she doesn’t think. The actress who plays Mrs. Park, Cho Yeo-jeong, is expressive and that’s what I like about her performance. And Mr. Park is busy with his job and enjoying his life that I don’t think he overthinks things. Mr. and Mrs. Park may be clueless, but their children notice a few things. However what they suspect passes. Da-song notices how Ki-taek, Chung-sook and Ki-jung smell alike. Da-hye is curious to know what the relationship between Ki-woo and Ki-jung is. Ki-woo says Ki-jung is a friend of his cousin’s, but as soon as Da-hye sees Ki-jung she can see there might be something going on between the two of them. Da-hye thinks Ki-woo and Ki-jung may be a couple and Ki-woo denies it. Da-hye feels Ki-woo might have romantic feelings for Ki-jung, but Ki-woo keeps denying every question about him and Ki-jung being attracted to each other. The real truth is Ki-jung is Ki-woo’s sister, so he is positive he does not have any romantic feelings for her unless Ki-woo and Ki-jung were Cersel and Jaime Lannister from “Games of Thrones”. Ki-woo convinces Da-hye there is nothing on between him and Ki-jung and she is happy about that because she likes him. Ki-woo and Da-hye develop a romantic relationship after that.
The Parks’ house is a paradise for the Kim family. It looks like a museum in my opinion. It’s got a nice wide view of the yard from the family room.
The Park family goes on a family vacation while the Kim family has a vacation of their own at the Park house. But that vacation ends too soon when the old housekeeper, Moon-gwang, returns to the house because she left something behind. There’s a lot of things about the Park house that no one knows about, even it’s owners. Moon-gwang opens a secret entrance to a secret basement and the Kim family observes everything. Moon-gwang has been hiding her husband down there for protection. The Kims accidently get themselves caught in front of Moon-gwang and she discovers they are family. Moon-gwang uses a phone as her weapon in order to expose the Kim family to the Parks. Moon-gwang started off as being this harmless, gentle, kind being and now she looks like a jailbird who has had it rough in prison. There’s now a war between the Kim family and Moon-gwang and her husband. The Kim family win the battle in getting the phone. Ki-taek takes care of dragging Moon-gwang and Geun-sae down in the secret place and making sure they are locked down there.
Bong Joon-ho said the Kims and Moon-gwang going at each other is tragic because the thing the Kim family and Moon-gwang have in common is they are poor. They shouldn’t have to fight each other to survive. They are hard workers, where as the Park family hardly do anything. Like Mrs. Park for example. She doesn’t work or cook or clean. She’s not a house wife. Mrs. Park is someone who just does whatever she wants and as long as she is married to a rich guy, she doesn’t have to lift a finger.
Smell feels like one of the main topics in “Parasite”. Da-hye notices how Ki-taek, Chung-sook and Ki-Jung smell the same. Then while the Kims are hiding underneath the table after the Park family returns early from their trip, Mr. and Mrs. Park make fun of Ki-taek by saying he smells. Mr. and Mrs. Park are no different from any other rich snob who think poor people are pathetic. Ki-taek can’t help the way he smells. I guess you can’t afford to smell nice. Ki-taek was a gentleman to the Parks in the beginning and he has done so much for them, but insulting him doesn’t make him Mr. nice guy anymore.
A lot of the buildings in “Paradise”, the Kim’s house, their neighborhood and the Park’s house were built sets. But the scene where the Kims run through streets and neighborhoods to get back to their house was real areas. Bong always choses the right people to help him bring his films to life. Like Bong’s cinematographer and him both like shooting in real places. And Bong’s production designer wanted the sets to feel very real. Their was a building being knocked down and Bong and his production designer got a chance to take a look at it from the inside before it was destroyed. The place looked like a mess and both Bong and the production designer thought it was the type of look the Kim’s place needed. After it was torn down, the production designer managed to get a few pieces of that building, like doors and wallpaper and use it as part of the set they were building for the Kim’s place.
Da-hye I would say is the only member in the Park family who doesn’t give a damn who’s rich and who isn’t. I mean she loves Ki-woo and he’s not rich. Da-hye treats Ki-woo like he belongs to no other woman but her.
Two characters in “Parasite” suffer serious head injuries that make you go “ouch”, or make you squeamish. When the Park’s trip was canceled and they returned to the house, Moon-gwang tried to make it upstairs, but she was kicked down by Chung-sook. Moon-gwang fell down and her head hit the hard wall. She was still alive, but not for long. Moon-gwang used her last strength to free her husband. Now Geun-sae wants revenge. Ki-woo feels things have gone too far by making life a living hell for Moon-gwang and her husband. Ki-woo goes down to the basement with the rock, his friend gave him, but Ki-woo doesn’t know what he is in for. Geun-sae attacks Ki-woo and hits Ki-woo on the head with the rock. His head is bleeding. Geun-sae throws the rock and nearly hits Ki-woo’s head. Ki-woo is lucky that second hit didn’t cause too much damage, otherwise his head would be squashed and his brains would be scattered.
Da-hye goes looking for Ki-woo. Da-hye finds Ki-woo’s unconscious body and carries him on her back. Obviously that continues to show how carrying Da-hye is. When Bong first met actor Woo-sik about the part of Ki-woo, Woo-sik was skinny and Bong told him to stay that way. I think the reason is so that way he could be easily carried by Ji-So Jung, the actress who plays Da-hye.
A birthday party is thrown for Da-song in the yard, but the birthday party turns into a massacre when Geun-sae goes at Ki-jung and stabs her with a knife right next to the heart. Da-song encountered Geun-sae once, believing he was a ghost. Geun-sae was in the shadows and had this creepy look in his eyes. Da-song gets a good look at Geun-sae after he stabs Ki-jung and he looks at him like he is seeing the devil. Da-song passes out because he is terrified of Geun-sae. Mr. and Mrs. Park panic and feel their son needs to go to the hospital, but he just fainted. It’s Ki-jung who needs help the most because she is bleeding to death and has a serious injury. The only people at the party who care for Ki-jung’s life are her parents. Ki-taek tries to stop the bleeding, while Chung-sook attacks Geun-Sae. That is one tough woman. I mean everyone else at the party is panicking and running away and Chung-sook is the only one who is not afraid to fight the lunatic with the knife. Chung-Sook uses all her strength and wins the battle by putting a sword through Geun-sae. Now that the threat is taken care of, Geun-sae goes to her daughter.
Mr. Park yells for the car keys from Ki-taek. Ki-taek throws the car keys, but they end up underneath Chung-sook while the fight between her and Geun-Sae was still going on. Mr. Park goes for the keys and the smell bothers him. A maniac crashed the party, Ki-jung is dying and Mr. Park is concerned about the smell? Ki-taek loses it, takes his anger on Mr. Park, grabs the knife and makes sure it goes right in the spot where the heart. Ki-taek makes a run for it after that and his whereabouts become a mystery. Ki-taek thought fast after he ran. He went to the place where no one would be able to find him, the secret basement.
Ki-jung didn’t make it, but Ki-woo managed to stay alive after almost being bashed in the head with a huge rock. Ki-woo was in a coma and it’s just him and his mother now. All the family had was each other and they really cared for one another, but now there’s not much of a family left.
The Park house was a lovely place to be in and it’s hard for Ki-woo to let it go. The house was a place where the whole Kim family was happy, before things went down hill. Ki-woo looks at the house from a distance and he notices one of the lights is twitching. Ki-woo discovers it’s a sign that his father is alright. Ki-taek is using the lights as a code so his son can get the message. Ki-taek is doing alright. He is a survivor and a sneaky cat. He gets food in the middle of the night and makes sure he doesn’t make one sound. Ki-taek hasn’t been caught by the authorities and isn’t locked up in jail, but still he is in a prison. He can’t walk freely and see the sunshine whenever he wants to. Ki-woo’s goal is to become rich, so he can buy the house and his father can walk as a free man again. It shows Ki-woo’s fantasy at the end and he wishes for it to come true.
“Parasite” is another one of those movies I would call a masterpiece and my rating on it is five out of five stars.
“Parasite” was honored the biggest award at the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d’Or. In this image you see Bong Joon Ho receiving the award from one of the Juries of Cannes 2019, filmmaker Alejandro G. Inarritu.
