Parasite was a movie that many people were no doubt sceptical about when they first saw it on the list for the 2020 Oscars. When the film dominated the Oscars, earning itself four major wins including best picture, the concept of a Korean-made film winning in that category no doubt made people even more unsure of its quality and more so viewing it as a pity win and a gimmick for the year’s award session. Thankfully, director Bong Joon-ho proved to be a rather underground phenomenon, creating not only what many people view as the best film of 2019, but has also been declared one of the best films of the decade. The film consists of two families: the wealthy Park family and the poorer Kim family. When the son of the Kim family, Ki Woo (played by Woo-sik Choi) is given the chance to tutor the Park’s teenage daughter, offering him a chance to get into the richer life and earn himself some good money. Discovering that Mr Park (played by Lee Sun-kyun) is a constant working man and never around, and Mrs Park (played by Cho Yeo-jeong) is easily manipulated, the son gets the idea to slowly integrate his family into the roles for the Parks, removing other workers in their way and gradually making their way into the rich family lifestyle. As their plan falls into motion however, it becomes quickly evident how out of place they truly are in this level of society. The movie proved to be a massive landmark in getting Korean-made pictures into the global mainstream and it wonderfully showed off the strengths of their talents, providing a movie that is fantastically told and constructed, marvellously acted and beautifully shot and composed. It may appear confronting and new, but there’s a lot in this film that can win you over.

The double meaning of the title works on both ends of the film’s main focuses; the poor family’s plan to sap off the rich families ignorance and worm their way to the top through deceit, but also in the rich family’s dependence on the poor’s labour to provide them with their perfect lifestyle. The mere concept for the film fully takes advantage of its setting and its atmosphere. The film manages to utilise Korea’s atmosphere and bleak environment to elevate its themes and story without distancing itself from other cultures, the story is concocted in a universal enough way that it can be understood by any culture. Korea’s harsh conditions and emphasis on social standings and perfection really increase the film’s themes of class conflict, social inequality, wealthy disparity and late stage capitalism, all concepts that would usually be incredibly difficult to portray in a simple way. The film is masterfully directed by Joon-ho; perfectly pacing and visually showing the film’s story in such a tight manner that it never gets boring and there are enough twists and jumps throughout that keep it from getting stale. The movie’s upstairs/downstairs dynamic as well as its instance of conveying the subtle distances between the two families is shown and told with a story that doesn’t feel hammered down to be one specific genre; it can be funny in moments, it can get really dark, it can get pretty complicated and then incredibly easy to follow, it creates an environment that is both an over-exaggeration of the worst of Korea while also being a perfect representation of the people’s feelings and struggles. The only slight downside to the plot is its conclusion; in which the puzzle pieces to make this ending fit perfectly are there, yet aren’t strong enough to make such a big decision feel entirely warranted. For a film that did a very good job establishing the issues with both sides of the family without being too heavy on dialogue, it needed just a touch more to make that ending really stick with the audience.

Despite the language barrier, these characters are surprisingly well set up in the limited time that the audience gets to see them. While the film doesn’t really take too many moments to stop and breath with its characters, the instances that either side interacts with the other provides enough amounts of personality and realism to make the standout as people. The Kim family all feel very genuine in how they interact with each other, while the Park family is much more fake and segmented, like how people would talk on a sitcom. The acting overall is very good; every single actor gives their characters just enough energy and passion that makes it come across as genuine when it needs too and slightly over-the-top when it needs too, it’s a perfect balance and each one is very good in their roles. Seeing the poor family mimic the speech tone and pacing of the rich family while in their presence works for even better contrast when it cuts back to their traditional more laid back slobbier personas, and seeing the rich family treat the poor family with the slightest amount of insult that are handled more passive-aggressively feels even more insulting than just being obvious. While the film doesn’t have a villain, the antagonising force of the film could have been a touch stronger; while they work for both the message and as threats during the last half of the film, they could have again been a touch more developed to make it really work.

The film manages to make its locations and sets look unbelievable despite the fact that the film has practically no color in it at all. The film features strong tones of grey, blue, black and a hint of green, yet outside of that there’s very little popping moments of eye candy. Yet the cinematography craftsmanship alone gives each section of the film’s areas so much personality and contrast without saying anything; the poor sections are huddled together like bug dens, filled with stuff around every corner, dimly lit by lamps, cover with rubbish and comes across as sweaty and claustrophobic, while the rich area is massive in scale and clean in nature, so much space that the people look small by comparison and tidy enough that it looks like it’s never been touched, like a model home. Even with its duller coloration, it all feels intentional in elevating the film’s atmosphere which is a perfect blend between subtle and obvious; there’s times where the themes and metaphors are obvious and sometimes its harder to notice. The musical score written by South Korean composer Jung Jae-ill helps to further the film’s balance between fake perfection and grimy realism, with a piano score mixed with light percussions and piano which gives off a mood that feels pretty and classy but underlining an element of unrest and imperfection. The writing is very tight and tells its story in a flowing way, where even passing lines will give off either character motivation or future plot without it feeling too inorganic. At times, some of the lines can feel a bit soap opera like, but those are rare occasion where the rest of the dialogue feels genuine when its required and tight when its required.

Parasite is a fantastic film that works for any audience regardless of the culture difference because the handling of the story, its characters, its visual structure and its themes work even by removing the cultural element instead being used to further push instead of retract. A story about the struggles between social classes has been done before yet not in such a hauntingly straightforward way that manages to make people feel comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. With shots that could be hung up as paintings, actors that are the perfect amount of realistic and over-the-top, themes that are important and complicated yet feel organic and fleshed out, and a story that takes something that has been done pretty simplistically in the past, and made into something very entertaining, Parasite was more than worthy of winning all of its awards. It could have used a few touch ups to make that closing moment extra poignant, but despite that, Parasite is a must see for any film lovers. The film will in no doubt suck out any fears you have really quickly.