“Parasite” Review: The Best Film of the Year

A shockingly insightful attack on the class structure

<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm0094435&sol;">Bong Joon-ho<&sol;a> has always churned out brilliant films of the fantastic and questioning of society&period; One can easily be amazed by his dystopian films of <em>Snowpiercer<&sol;em> and <em>Okja<&sol;em>&period; One can also miss its commentary on the class struggle&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s no missing that message in <em>Parasite<&sol;em> with so little of the fantastic to crowd the themes&period; This film takes dead-aim and gets vicious enough to be both a dark comedy and a brutal commentary on a tough topic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-149921" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;11&sol;30004132&sol;wtqeOIOg&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>A Tale of Two Families<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The story centers around the Kim family in South Korea&period; They&&num;8217&semi;re poor&comma; living in a crummy and dirty basement apartment&period; They struggle to find a wi-fi signal to grab and can only find work in the form of folding pizza boxes&period; With a family the includes a father&comma; mother&comma; and two adult children&comma; all with some unique skill&comma; one would think they&&num;8217&semi;d find better jobs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A bone is thrown their way when the son comes into the position of teaching English to the daughter of the wealthy Park family&period; He&&num;8217&semi;s so easily able to work his way into their house that he devises a plan&period; When he notices the Park&&num;8217&semi;s youngest child likes to draw a lot&comma; he recommends he knows an art teacher&period; The Kim family daughter knows enough about art but knows a little more about deception through psychology&period; They devise a scheme of trying to get the whole family into the house&comma; convincing the Parks they have no relation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-149920" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;11&sol;30004117&sol;ahuZpSlA&period;jpeg" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Darkly Comedic to Just Plain Dark<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><em>Parasite<&sol;em> has an astounding ability to catch the audience off guard&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re initially made to sympathize with the Kim family as the underdogs trying to make ends meet&period; Their methods become a bit darker as they go on&comma; though still posed as amusing&period; In order to get the Kim father a job as a driver&comma; they stage the limo driver to be having sex with girls in the family car&period; To kick out the present housekeeper&comma; they form an elaborate plan to make the Parks believe the current employee has TB&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There&&num;8217&semi;s a certain unease that comes from wanting to champion the underdog when their methods are so cruel&period; But there&&num;8217&semi;s a piece of dialogue that defines their mission when remarking on the Park family&semi; rich people can afford to be nice&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s true&period; Being genuine did not get the family to where they wanted to be&period; Only through lies&comma; scripts&comma; and ruining the lives of others did they achieve wealth&period; And that&&num;8217&semi;s the sad truth&period; Nobody earns a billion dollars&period; They find other ways&comma; looser in morality&period; A shocking twist reveals itself in the second act and we view the Kim family in more complicated light&period; This especially true with the fantastic performance of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm0814280&sol;">Song Kang-ho<&sol;a> as the poor father&comma; starting off warm when his kids devise a plan and bitter as he watches his worth melt&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-149923" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;11&sol;30004202&sol;parsaite-i&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>A Remarkable Picture<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Bong&&num;8217&semi;s style of portraying the Kim&&num;8217&semi;s filthy residence to the decadence of the Park estate is brilliantly shot&period; Every scene within the Kim&&num;8217&semi;s place is always shot at a downward angle&comma; the camera always looking down on the family&period; The Park family resides in a modern manor atop a large hill&comma; far above the squalor of the city&period; From these perspectives&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s easy enough for the Kims to despise the rich for being so high while the Parks sneer and turn their nose at the lesser folk&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Even lesser scenes carry an uncomfortable distance and narrow view&period; When the Kim&&num;8217&semi;s son initially begins teaching&comma; he speaks of how vigor is more important than knowing the right answers&period; This is certainly the recipe for making your way into the capitalist world but a method that is sure to come back and bite you&period; Sure enough&comma; the constant punching down of the less fortunate swings a pendulum of terror back and forth&period; You can probably guess who will lose the most in the end for the picture striving to be uncomfortably honest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-149918" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;11&sol;30004041&sol;screen-shot-2019-10-10-at-20030-pmpng&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Conclusion<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p><em>Parasite<&sol;em> is the perfect rollercoaster of the darkly comedic and a scathing bit of class commentary&period; The performances exceptionally charming where it&&num;8217&semi;s easy enough to be won over by the Kims and then blindsided by the tragedy that befalls them&period; The final few scenes of the picture are horrifically violent and deeply unsettling&comma; offering no easy end to this troubling tale&period; With impeccable attention to detail and plenty of raw tension throughout&comma; this is undeniably Bong&&num;8217&semi;s best film and one of the best films of the year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <h3 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;subtitle">The Review<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <h2 class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;review&lowbar;title">&NewLine; Parasite&NewLine; <&sol;h2>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewheader clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"review&lowbar;score score&lowbar;good">&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;value">10<&sol;span>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"score&lowbar;text">Score<&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"desc" style&equals;''>&NewLine; <p>A visually stunning and well-acted piece of class commentary that is as entertaining as it is somberly insightful&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewdetail clearfix">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>PROS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Astounding script on eating the rich<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Visually compelling<&sol;li><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-check"><&sol;i> Pitch-perfect acting<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"conspros">&NewLine; <h3>CONS<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li><i class&equals;"jegicon-cross"><&sol;i> Not playing to a wider crowd<&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewscore jeg&lowbar;reviewbars clearfix" data-scoretype&equals;"point">&NewLine; <h3>Review Breakdown<&sol;h3>&NewLine; <ul><li>&NewLine; <strong>Final Score<&sol;strong>&NewLine; <span class&equals;"reviewscore">10<&sol;span>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"jeg&lowbar;reviewbar&lowbar;wrap">&NewLine; <span style&equals;"width&colon; 100&percnt;" class&equals;"barbg"><&sol;span>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;li><&sol;ul>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; &NewLine; <&sol;div>

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