When one thinks of a Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards, generally a film like Parasite doesn't come to mind. The movies that typically win the Oscar for Best Picture usually wind up being historical set pieces or extremely well-crafted dramas, which makes Parasite's historic Oscar win at this year's award ceremony even more impressive. The film carries with it the distinct honor of being the first foreign-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as wins for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, And Best Original Screenplay. In addition to to the film showing mass critical acclaim, Parasite also became a global box office hit grossing over $200 million worldwide. To those who've seen Parasite, it's no mystery as to why it was chosen to be the Best Picture of 2019 as it's an extremely well-crafted black comedy that's mixes humor, suspense, and drama that stays with the audience after watching it. Along with it's solid storytelling, the film is extremely well-acted, directed, and written with strong character development to make the audience invested in its story. Parasite is not the typical Best Picture Oscar Winner that audiences would think of when looking at the Academy's track record of awarding high quality films, but its surprise win is emphasized by its unique and creative form of storytelling, that serves as a welcomed breath of fresh air for the academy breaking loose of old trends and acknowledging works from other parts of the world, as well as posing the question for audiences in regards to whether big dreams can be attainable under certain societal and wealth gaps.
The plot for Parasite centers around a down on their luck South Korean family, who stumbles into a potential dream job for each other as they con their way into working for a wealthy family. What seems like a great opportunity becomes a risky one as secrets are revealed that ultimately lead to circumstances spiraling out of control, as well as further jeopardizing their positions in the household. The strongest aspects of Parasite that makes it work so well is the creativity behind its storytelling. The film tells its story in a way that feels like a great deal of thought was put into making it. The story carries with it social themes that feel relevant as well as timely to today's world, particularly the film showing the wealth gap between the two families in their country. What writer Bong Joon-ho does well is directing the film with a firm hand that showcases complete and total confidence in regards to telling the story, while brilliantly devoting enough time to fleshing out these characters so the audience gets a full understanding of the dynamics of both sets of characters. He not only creates a story that's thought-provoking, but makes people take the themes from it and apply it to their own situations. The film with its plot, explores the concept of dreams that people aspire to obtain and explores whether having too high of standards can lead to failure of achieving those goals or being extremely unlikely to reach them. Parasite is a film that aims to take risks while having something to say behind it regarding the gap between the rich and the poor in society. It manages to succeed in showing that distinction without feeling as if the film is hammering the audience over the head with its message The film essentially works as being an effective and powerful story about two families with different societal backgrounds functioning in society while showing how desire, jealously, and wealth can both divide and push people to achieve their dreams and desires, even if it's through the use of drastic measures. Parasite helps to reinforce the notion that storytelling hasn't completely gone the way of excessive use or heavily reliance on visual effects, but can still be a powerful force in making the audience, think, reflect, and relate to the characters and stories being presented to them.
Besides the films skillful storytelling, the acting by the main cast does a great deal of making the story feel believable to audiences. Everyone brings their A game here with delivering performances, that feel both natural and realistic. The strongest performance out of the whole cast comes from the father of the Kim family Ki-Taek, played by Song Kang-ho. Ho does a fantastic job with playing a character that's flawed yet both understandable and sympathetic as he wants what's best for his family given the circumstances of their living with a twist in the films third act which adds an extra layer to his role. The second strongest performance comes from Lee Sun-Kyun as the father of the Park family, Park Dong-ik. Kynn also does a solid job of creating a character, that serves as being the exact opposite of Kim with Park being a spoiled and wealthy upper-class individual in society, who looks down on the less wealthy through making constant remarks regarding their smell. Both actors not only deliver strong performances with believable chemistry, but prove effective in helping to show the contrast between the two families in their respective society in regards to their wealth, their way of thinking, and how they both act as family men to their respective families. As for the female members of both families, Cho Yeo-Jeong and Jang Hye-Jin both give excellent performances as Yeong, mother of the Park family and Hye-Jin as mother of the Kim family, Chung-sook. Out of the two performances, Cho Yeo-Jeong gives the stronger one playing Yeong with the audience being stunned at how easily gullible her character comes from across as being in easily getting manipulated by the Kim's. Other notable performances are Chio Woo-Shik and Park So-damn both impressing as Ki-woo and Ki-Jung, sons and daughters of the Kim family. Both make their characters appealing and convincing while being equal counterparts to their parents roles. The audience gets a kick out of seeing the children of the Kim family carrying out the family con in terms of replacing all of the Parks family servants with themselves. Both young actors as well as their older counterparts share chemistry as an ensemble, that audiences totally buy into the idea that this is a family of hustlers trying to make their dreams come true by hustling together. In the supporting roles category, Lee Jung-eun and Park Myung-hoon shine with their scene-stealing subplot as the parks family original housekeeper Good Moon-gwang, and Park Myung-hoon as her husband with one of the films most shocking yet effective surprise twists. The rest of the cast proves effective with Jung Ji-So and Jung Hye-Jin as both daughter and son of the Park family along with Park Geun-rok as the Park's chauffeur. One of the films greatest strengths lies within the performances of its main cast as everyone manages to rise to the occasion and make the most of their characters. The chemistry between the Kim and Park families feel both natural and realistic to the audience with them seeing both the social and economic difference between the two sides. The movie wouldn't have worked as well as it does without the dedication and enthusiasm, that the ensemble cast brings to the project with both being clearly visible here.
In the films directing category, director Bong Joon-ho proves to be highly-effective and skillful with demonstrating his pure craftsmanship in regards to creating a well made black comedy thriller. Joon-ho crafts a story that feels grounded in reality while giving it a reasonably slow enough pace to develop all the films key players in the story. There isn't a moment in the film that feels like it's unnecessary here as Joon-ho incorporates everything essential to the plot and characters, so the audience gets a full scope of the story. The film is directed in a way which shows the Kim family conning the Park's as being both entertaining and absurd to watch with the audience actually finding themselves rooting for the Kim family to succeed with their clever yet twisted plan. One of the films key technical elements is its breathtaking cinematography with the film easily drawing the viewer into the polarizing world of South Korea. The films camera work utilizes all the bright colors in the scenery, as well as showing the different societal gaps between the two families in regards to their ways of living economically. Whereas the Park's family have a wealthy mansion that overlooks a freshly green backyard with beautiful scenery in a wealthy neighborhood, the Kim's are forced to live in a semi-basement like slump with a window that oversees people peeing into the drain in front of their apartment with the latter ultimately getting flooded when a massive rain storm hits. The films breathtaking cinematography is accompanied by its editing, making the film feel well trimmed and immersive with its story. The film never feels like it slows down to the point where the story grinds to the halt, but is always moving with the audience both awaiting to see what the Kim family does next in regards to brilliantly manipulating the Park's, and whether the latter will soon discover the truth and punish the Kim family for their deception. The films set and costume designs go hand in hand with showing the economic barriers between the two families much like their lifestyle environments. The use of gore in the films story is tastefully handled with Joon-ho applying that element to the story in a way that enhances both the characters as well as the shock value of the story with the films mind-blowing third act being a prime example. On a visual note, Boon Joon-ho, manages to impressively blend all of these elements together to create an environment for the characters, that feels appropriate for the type of story being told with him giving the actors enough freedom to inherit their roles and bring the story to life. Joon-ho succeeds in giving the film an atmosphere that's fun, tense, immersive, and also revealing of today's society with the type of societal themes covered in the story.
The heart of the story lies not just with the convincing performances of its cast nor the skillful craftsmanship of its filmmaker, but the pure brilliance and humanity behind the films screenplay. The script also by Boon Joon-ho and co-writer Han Jin-Won, does a terrific job of breaking down themes regarding family, poverty, desperation, wealth, deceit, social class distinctions, and attempting to make ones dreams come true through drastic measures. Despite the films attempts to show the Kim family working to make their dreams more accessible, the films ending leaves audiences with a hopeful yet bleak message that essentially says it's better to have no dreams to strive for because one will never be disappointed if they fail to become reality. The film showing the gap between the wealthy and the poor is hard-hitting as well as thought-provoking as the audience gets placed in the shoes of the Kim's with a full understanding of their desperation to move up in a system, that essentially holds them down. A scene that effectively shows the Kim's desire to have the Park's lifestyle, is the one where the family as a whole is sitting in the living room of their mansion drinking and commenting while drunk about how much better things are now that they all work for them undercover. The Park's are perfectly written as being a self-centered and wealthy family that are full of pride for the life they own, while being tone deaf and clueless to everything playing out in front of them. It's the little subtle moments such as the Park's couple complaining about the smell of Ki-Taek, not realizing of his families real life dilemma of living in poverty but are shown to easily look down upon and cast judgment on those who aren't up to their criteria in terms of living and wealth. It's moments such as those or when Park tells Ki-Taek, that he's being paid for helping the Parks on their sons birthday, that reinforce the notion to audiences that regardless of the relationship between the two families, they're both separated by class in society. As the script effectively shows, the film is essentially about two families with both their lifestyles being displayed with the less fortunate using the wealthier one as a vessel to achieve their goals. One can tell that a great deal of thought went into crafting this story from the writers as the story carries with it many different layers regarding it's theme and message that can speak to audiences from all different parts of the world, who face similar scenarios to the Kim's.
In the end Parasite does what it's meant to do which is to both entertain and make audiences think about the characters and the scenario that surrounds them. The film is a beautiful blend of humor, suspense, and drama that are blended together masterfully to create an ideal story that draws the audience in instantly. The film hooks you with it's plot and doesn't let go until the films surprise ending, taking the audience through an experience that comes with its share of laughs as well as surprise twists and turns. Parasite not only stands as being one of the best movies to come out in 2019, but shows that you don't need an excessive amount of visual effects to make a film standout but the creativity and devotion of both the filmmakers and actors in regards to telling its story. The film feels like it was made with passion from its team with wanting to show two different worlds merging together to make for an experience that's both unusual and eye-opening. Parasite is a gem of a film that powerfully states that storytelling still matters with the end result being worthy of it's historical Best Picture win. If one wants solid storytelling with a message that prompts one to reflect on their own dreams and goals, Parasite is worth seeing as the end result proves to be a surprising yet rewarding experience.
Final Verdict: For movie lovers and those looking for legit storytelling that's effective and poignant, Parasite is a must see.
Final Verdict: For movie lovers and those looking for legit storytelling that's effective and poignant, Parasite is a must see.
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