Parasite
Premise - A lower-class family of four fakes their qualifications as tutors, a driver, and a housekeeper so they can work for an upper-class family and pretend to live in their home. Gullible and ignorant, the rich, upper-class family does not realize the illegal activities happening right under their noses.
Review - This single movie has won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Foreign Film, and the crown of Best Picture. It has made history. I can't imagine there aren't people who are at least curious about watching the film due to its reputation. For me, personally, I have wanted to watch the film since it first started making award show buzz because I could not figure out what the premise was, only that it was about class struggles. (Good thing I didn't know what the premise was going in, as that is the best way to watch the film!) I like a film that can catch me off guard and surprise me. I wanted to be as shocked and impressed as the reviews said I would.
I feel bad for those who immediately disregard the film for being in a foreign language. Actually, okay, no I don't, because I feel like the kinds of people who are uptight about nationality are the same people who wouldn't like this film's content due to its exploration of social class. But that is the number one complaint I see about the film - that it's not in English. And seriously??? If you disregard the immense amount of intelligence a non-English-speaking director, crew, and cast can have, then you have a higher likelihood of disregarding the intelligence of the poor as well.
All this said, I would not necessarily call this a film about rich vs. poor. As I noted in the premise, the rich are kind of ignorantly going on with their lives as per usual until the very end of the film. Their privilege allows them to ignore the struggles happening beneath them. The film is truly about the poor vs. the poorer. In this zero sum society, there are only so many jobs, so many houses, and so much money that can be distributed among the poor. The rich are hoarding so much of society's resources, so the poor and the poorer are battling it out to no longer be as poor as your neighbor. Even though our protagonist family is miserably poor, there is always lower to fall - at least they aren't homeless or starving. The same analogy can be made towards race relations - in many US neighborhoods there is more black on black crime than black towards white. This is not an argument against racism, but rather one that reinforces its systematic existence if majority black neighborhoods are left with so little.
This is a film rich with symbolism that I do not have the time to fully discuss. Luckily, there are countless film analysis videos for one to watch that breaks down the film's many meanings. It sort of means my job is done because no matter what analytical thoughts I've had about the film, someone somewhere has already said it and made a video about it.
I think the last piece that I want to be able to share my thoughts on would be the title - "Parasite." Who is the parasite? And is that a bad thing? A parasite, by definition, is "an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense." It has a very negative connotation, and we associate it with disgusting vermin that is stealing what isn't theirs. This is reinforced in the film by the constant allusions to cockroaches and bugs, and with the poor families running around in dark corners of the house. But when you think about this definition "at the other's expense..." if a parasite is a weak organism stealing from a strong one... then it's kind of just about redistribution of resources? Doesn't sound so bad. Yes, the poor family is living off the benefits of the rich family and taking over their home, but that just redistributes resources in a matter that makes their lives more fair. So, in this intuitive interpretation where the poor family is the parasite off the rich, then maybe a parasite isn't such an immoral thing to be. I have seen interpretations, however, where the rich family is considered the parasite. You can think of society as the host organism, and the rich people of the world as stealing and hoarding resources, draining society of its potential to serve the whole. This definition helps justify the brutal murder at the end of the film. No one meaning is correct, which is why I love the ambiguous yet meaningful title. (95/100)
Quote - "You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all."
ALSO
"Money is an iron. Those creases all get smoothed out."
What to watch for - The scene that still sticks with me even now is when the plot twist hits - the moment the old housekeeper comes over and we follow her into the basement to find what's below. There is actually an entire analysis video on YouTube that outlines why these key 10 minutes (where the film shifts from Act I to Act II) are so masterful. And I always love when a film can surprise me!
If you liked this film, I'd recommend Us! I thought about this film a lot while watching. It similarly has a pair of two families of four who mirror each other exactly except for one fits in with the "haves" and the other with the "have nots." And the "have nots" living quite literally underground. I think Parasite is a much better film though.
Directed by Bong Joon-ho
Distributed by CJ Entertainment
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