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Parasite
Korean screenwriter and director Bong Joon Ho has deservedly earned three Oscar nominations for 2019's Parasite, a sumptuously mounted film that starts off as a delicious black comedy and social commentary that takes a dark turn at the halfway point leading to a heart-stopping finale that will linger with the viewer long after fade out. The film has earned six Oscar nominations in all, including Best Picture of the year, this year's Roma.
Ki-Kim is the college age son of an unemployed and unmotivated Korean family living in abject poverty who has been offered a job tutoring the high school age daughter of the wealthy and pampered Park family, who aren't exactly a picture perfect family themselves. Ki-Kim manages to get jobs for his father, mother, and sister in the opulent household as well and just as the Kim family begins getting very comfortable with their new lifestyle, a secret at the Park household reveals its ugly head, taking this story in a direction that we don't see coming at all.
Bong Joon Ho's Oscar-nominated screenplay effectively creates two very different families that provide different looks at family dysfunction with surprisingly balanced looks at both families that initially create sympathies for both families up to a point. We are so happy when the Kim family all get jobs at the Park house and really hope this is the start of a new life for them as well as a change in their attitudes about their previous life, but it is not to be. We also hope that the influence the Kims have on the pampered Park family will have a positive effect on them as well, but that is not to be either.
The film provides just enough exposition for the story at hand, showing us just how tragic the Kim's current lifestyle is, steeped in even deeper irony by the fact that these really aren't stupid people, they're just sort of lazy and irresponsible. Ki-Kim's sister is revealed to be a computer/photoshop genius who puts together a phony college degree for her brother, but puts no effort into making a living out of her skills.
Ho has been afforded a huge budget for this film which is evident in every frame...the film is beautifully mounted featuring exquisite cinematography and Oscar-nominated film editing. Never really been into foreign films because I don't like reading at the movies, but the reading required to keep up with what was happening onscreen wasn't too distracting. The actors serve Ho's vision appropriately, with standout work from Kang-ho Song as the Kim Patriarch and Jeong-eun Lee as the Park's first housekeeper. This is a fun and often challenging film experience that provides squirm worthy laughs throughout leading to a finale that will leave the viewer limp.
Korean screenwriter and director Bong Joon Ho has deservedly earned three Oscar nominations for 2019's Parasite, a sumptuously mounted film that starts off as a delicious black comedy and social commentary that takes a dark turn at the halfway point leading to a heart-stopping finale that will linger with the viewer long after fade out. The film has earned six Oscar nominations in all, including Best Picture of the year, this year's Roma.
Ki-Kim is the college age son of an unemployed and unmotivated Korean family living in abject poverty who has been offered a job tutoring the high school age daughter of the wealthy and pampered Park family, who aren't exactly a picture perfect family themselves. Ki-Kim manages to get jobs for his father, mother, and sister in the opulent household as well and just as the Kim family begins getting very comfortable with their new lifestyle, a secret at the Park household reveals its ugly head, taking this story in a direction that we don't see coming at all.
Bong Joon Ho's Oscar-nominated screenplay effectively creates two very different families that provide different looks at family dysfunction with surprisingly balanced looks at both families that initially create sympathies for both families up to a point. We are so happy when the Kim family all get jobs at the Park house and really hope this is the start of a new life for them as well as a change in their attitudes about their previous life, but it is not to be. We also hope that the influence the Kims have on the pampered Park family will have a positive effect on them as well, but that is not to be either.
The film provides just enough exposition for the story at hand, showing us just how tragic the Kim's current lifestyle is, steeped in even deeper irony by the fact that these really aren't stupid people, they're just sort of lazy and irresponsible. Ki-Kim's sister is revealed to be a computer/photoshop genius who puts together a phony college degree for her brother, but puts no effort into making a living out of her skills.
Ho has been afforded a huge budget for this film which is evident in every frame...the film is beautifully mounted featuring exquisite cinematography and Oscar-nominated film editing. Never really been into foreign films because I don't like reading at the movies, but the reading required to keep up with what was happening onscreen wasn't too distracting. The actors serve Ho's vision appropriately, with standout work from Kang-ho Song as the Kim Patriarch and Jeong-eun Lee as the Park's first housekeeper. This is a fun and often challenging film experience that provides squirm worthy laughs throughout leading to a finale that will leave the viewer limp.