Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite Film Review

Directed by the famous Bong Joon Ho, the movie Parasite took home
four Oscars Academy Awards in 2020 which are, Best Picture, Directing,
Original Screenplay and International Feature Film. The movie premiered
on the 21st of May at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival where it also became
the first South Korean film to win the Palme d’Or. Then, as of May 30th,
the movie was released by CJ Entertainment.

Bong Joon Ho is well known for his films that features social and political themes, black humour, and suspense. As for Parasite, Bong added
more than just a genre to a movie. Just like his previous films, like Snow Piercer or The Host, there are hidden meanings, symbolisms, allegory, satire
and metaphors that requires a deeper understanding when watching the movie, which what makes me enjoy his films even more. For example, during the
film, Bong didn’t even realize how many scenes involved water. And came to a conclusion that water is an important theme in the movie, as water
always flow from the top to the bottom, but never the other way around. That is the case with the Kim clan, the couple and Park’s family. Even the actors
were not aware what roles they were taking. In fact, actor Kang Ho Song (as Ki Taek) had played so many roles for Bong Joon Ho, and with Parasite, he
accepted his role without knowing what the film was about and trusted Bong’s judgement for the movie (the same goes for the other actors as well). Ho
Song was a crucial actor for the film, Bong would not have agreed to film Parasite without Ho Song’s approval. Actors Choi Woo Shik (as Ki –woo)
and Lee Jeong-eun (as Moon Gwang), have also played a role in other Bong Joon Ho’s films like Okja and other blockbusters such as Train to Busan.
There were even times that Director Bong had to play out the roles for the actors to get the right feeling and acting he wanted to convey for the film.
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 The plot focuses on the reality of class struggles. Introducing, the Kim
family who live under a semi-basement in a poor neighbourhood struggling to
find their way up to a higher class. On the other hand, we have the Park clan;
wealthy young people with a decent house and jobs — something the Kim’s
doesn’t have but wishes to accomplish in the near future. Another set of major
characters in the film are the couple—where the maid’s husband lives secretly
under the Park’s basement. The Kim family con their way into the Park’s
house by a chain of recommendations while slowly kicking out the old
workers. Parasite is a tragedy without villains and that is because every
character in the movie is a “parasite”. The poor leech on the rich for food,
income and shelter. While the rich relies on the poor for a comfortable life,
leaving the poor forcefully conflicting against one another, fighting for the
rich’s “benefits”. Therefore the message is “inequality”— the inequality of
the different ‘social class systems’ because,“The characters portray South
Koreans who have been left behind by the country’s dramatic changes. It’s a
biting commentary on deepening inequality and other problems that have
many young and poor people describing their lives as a hellish nightmare”
(Fox News).

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 Joon Ho and his crew decided to focus on the lighting, lenses, angle and as well as the close up shots. According to the Director of Photography
(DP), the close up shots were vitally important for the film to focus on the character’s expression, to foreshadow and to show things that might represent
something in real life.
Since the Kim family live in a semi basement, where the light hardly reaches inside the house, the crew had to use artificial light to create more
balance and to emphasize the atmosphere around the Kims. Even the location of the houses and neighbourhood had a lot of CGI work done to make the
movie. And to build up more tension in the film, orchestral instruments (mostly violin) were used to evoke the tragic and suspenseful events. To
differentiate the two houses, Park’s house are filmed with more free flow, steady camera shots used to emphasize the wide space. On the other hand, still
and locked shots are used to enforce the tight, small space the Kims live in.

To finalize, I would rate this movie 9.8/10, because the ending did not show what happened to the Park family or to Ki –woo’s friend, Min (Park
Seo Joon). In my opinion, the message of the film was delivered nicely for someone who knows a little bit about Korea’s culture. While watching the
movie, the question, “Who is the villain?” always popped up in my mind, which had me searching online who the villain is. As mentioned before,
Director Bong Joon Ho intentionally didn’t want any villains in his films as he wanted Parasite to be realistic — “In the real world things aren’t always
black and white. Even though the Park family is rich they’re not unkind. Even though the Kim family is poor, they’re not evil.” (Retrieved from Screen
Rant’s video). Therefore, I would recommend this movie for people who enjoy literature films and enjoys investigating the ‘behind the scenes’.

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 CGI
SITES

Neighbourhood built inside a tank.

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