By Katy Nguyen
In the deep and grueling depths of society, humans are frantically searching from the bottom floor for a way to escape. Those at the top of the hill, having no idea of who is beneath them, continue to feed the parasitic illusion of hope. Entering South Korean director Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” you expect one thing but it gives you an unexpected rawness and honesty that you can never seem to wrap your mind around.
Rising to the top of the chain, the internationally acclaimed “Parasite” was nominated for six Academy Awards and won four of them including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film, under the new name. After winning the Palme d’Or, the highest award in the Cannes Film Festival, Bong has already pushed the boundaries of the South Korean film industry and into the markets of international success.
The positive critical reviews from Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic for “Parasite,” comes at a time where it hits deep into the core of society in the current times, considering the ever growing distance between the wealthy and the poor. It connects into the depths of our minds, an underlying truth that we often deny: class disparity. Director Bong says, “the story is universal,” and this is the reason why this South Korean movie resonates with audiences across the globe.
In “Parasite,” the Kim family lives in a semi-basement apartment in the lower side of the city, common in South Korea for those who cannot afford expensive housing. Ki-taek is the husband and father of the family. However, he doesn’t have a stable job, so his wife and children survive solely on a feasible job of folding pizza boxes for a company.
A light shines on the Kims when the son, Ki-woo, lands himself an opportunity he cannot resist; a tutoring job for the wealthy Park family’s daughter. A huge symbol in the movie is the stone, that is both the stepping stone for the Kims, but also the one to drag them down. “Parasite” slowly unfolds as one by one, the Kims manipulate themselves into the host family, developing a symbiotic relationship by benefiting from the small glimpse of a luxurious life. The Parks, too gullible and unsuspecting, extract the strenuous labor of the Kims.
Not only that, Parasite is cinematically perfect. Each scene is meticulously thought out and well planned to tie in with the parallels of the film. Director Bong places each character in their separate boundaries in each shot, therefore they never “cross the line.”
The buzzing eeriness of the Parasite’s ambiance develops it into a thriller and an exhilarating experience. As Director Bong does so with many of his previous works, there’s a social commentary that engulfs your mind and pulls you back down to the utter depths of reality. This hidden and deeply petrifying symbolism will keep you gripping on to your seat. Parasite is no microscopic feat; it delivers a human-sized idea that reminds us where we are and where we should remain behind the lines of society.
