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There is a scene in this film where a wealthy woman sits in the back seat of a car, with her bare feet up on the headrest of the passenger seat. Her feet are one seat over from her driver's face, he makes no issues of it. Yet she gets a whiff of his "smell" and immediately must open her window and look away in disgust. He catches this act, but doesn't say anything about it. You can't help but feel bad for the man, but then you remember why he is there and what he's doing and you find yourself at odds for who you want to "cheer" for in this gripping thriller that is this year's best film.
Bong Joon-ho has crafted a tense thriller that clearly divides the line between wealth and poverty, but blurs the lines between the characters on either side. A father, his wife and two children con their way into the home of a wealthy family by becoming their maid, driver, tutor and instructor. It seems simple enough, but Joon-ho injects Parasite with bone chilling imagery and intense sadness that leaves you not only gripping your seat by the climax, but days after you've seen it, you'll still be talking about it. Just when you think you know where the film is going, one stormy night a knock at a door changes everything.
As with his previous films, Joon-ho balances odd comedy with eye popping horror. In Snowpiercer you have masked men hacking people to bits with meat cleavers, but slipping on fish in a three stooges manner five seconds later. He brings some of that mentality here and you can't help but chuckle at some scenes, then immediately hold your mouth in fear/shock mere moments later. It's such a weird balancing act that very few people can pull it off.
As he does with Snowpiercer, we have a class warfare piece where we see how each side of the city lives. One house has massive glass windows that look out onto their perfectly kept lawn. The other home has flood waters crashing in, toilets erupting and people pissing in their window view. In one moment of brilliance we get a sequence where the family must vacate the rich family's house like cockroaches and they descent down the city to their home. Each shot is the family literally going down steps, deeper and deeper into the underbelly of the city until they reach their destination. It's some depressingly beautiful cinematography.
Parasite is this year's best film and one you shouldn't miss.
Parasite
There is a scene in this film where a wealthy woman sits in the back seat of a car, with her bare feet up on the headrest of the passenger seat. Her feet are one seat over from her driver's face, he makes no issues of it. Yet she gets a whiff of his "smell" and immediately must open her window and look away in disgust. He catches this act, but doesn't say anything about it. You can't help but feel bad for the man, but then you remember why he is there and what he's doing and you find yourself at odds for who you want to "cheer" for in this gripping thriller that is this year's best film.
Bong Joon-ho has crafted a tense thriller that clearly divides the line between wealth and poverty, but blurs the lines between the characters on either side. A father, his wife and two children con their way into the home of a wealthy family by becoming their maid, driver, tutor and instructor. It seems simple enough, but Joon-ho injects Parasite with bone chilling imagery and intense sadness that leaves you not only gripping your seat by the climax, but days after you've seen it, you'll still be talking about it. Just when you think you know where the film is going, one stormy night a knock at a door changes everything.
As with his previous films, Joon-ho balances odd comedy with eye popping horror. In Snowpiercer you have masked men hacking people to bits with meat cleavers, but slipping on fish in a three stooges manner five seconds later. He brings some of that mentality here and you can't help but chuckle at some scenes, then immediately hold your mouth in fear/shock mere moments later. It's such a weird balancing act that very few people can pull it off.
As he does with Snowpiercer, we have a class warfare piece where we see how each side of the city lives. One house has massive glass windows that look out onto their perfectly kept lawn. The other home has flood waters crashing in, toilets erupting and people pissing in their window view. In one moment of brilliance we get a sequence where the family must vacate the rich family's house like cockroaches and they descent down the city to their home. Each shot is the family literally going down steps, deeper and deeper into the underbelly of the city until they reach their destination. It's some depressingly beautiful cinematography.
Parasite is this year's best film and one you shouldn't miss.