Parasite: The Cycle of Exploitation Goes Every Which Way

Two weeks ago (I have a big backlog) I was able to catch a showing of Parasite, a Korean foreign-language film from Bong Joon Ho, and it blew me away. I'm generally someone who sticks to spoken English film, but the things I heard about this film were too good to pass up on. Seriously, the hype is earned, it's a masterful film, similar to The Lighthouse in that regard, though Parasite goes about this in a drastically different fashion than the former, and I'll preface this review by saying that Parasite is the more accessible one. It's a film that morphs through different film types throughout its runtime, though with a constant undercurrent of dark or bleak comedy. In case you haven't already guessed, it's a film that I very much enjoyed, but it's also a film that's best to go in blind, so with minimal spoilers let's get started.

If I deserve to be poor, why does this complete ditz and utter fool of a woman deserve to be at the top? You can even tell people's social status by their physical appearances (not counting clothes) in this movie.

The story and narrative of Parasite from the outset seems rather basic and straightforward at the outset: An impoverished and stingy family living in skid row in South Korea seeks to ingratiate themselves to a local wealthy family in order to make money (they're essentially grifters in every sense). Like parasites the poor family gradually supplants the retainers and servants of the wealthy family, and from the middle point of the film they live in relative luxury, tending to the needs of their masters. For much of the film it's unclear which family is worse, the poor for their cunning ruthlessness and deception, or the wealthy for their classist beliefs and sheer gullibility, and the film definitely has a commentary on wealth, connections and their roles in society. As the poor family cannot afford higher education, or simply are not wealthy to begin with, they are judged to be undeserving of employment and a better life. The patriarch of the wealthy family remarks that the father of the poor family (he does not know this) smells 'common', like the subway, a smell that you can never get rid of. The patriarch then says himself that he hates this smell, apparently forgetting that in nearly every society on Earth no person of wealth would likely be caught working as a chauffeur. This is his primary issue with the father of the poor family, even though he blindly hired him at the mention that he works for an exclusive chauffeur firm and was recommended. The term of 'parasite' is played around with for the entire film, and by the end it's put up to the audience to decide who the actual parasites are. Is it the wealthy family, who pursue lives of excess and frivolity while being good for little but the employment of the poor? Or is it the poor family, who instead of searching for employment or attempt to innovate dedicate themselves to conning others and gaming the system, even if it is really their only option? Or is it a third party who acts as a literal parasite, hiding from the family and taking from them while offering nothing tangible in return? It's very much unclear, and it was a a touch that I very much enjoyed the conundrum which I'm still trying to figure out (though I greatly enjoyed). It's very similar to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and if you liked the story of that film then Parasite is probably right up your alley.

One of the central themes of the film is how differing groups in society exploit each other. Just as the poor family exploits the other's money and naivete, they are in turn exploited by the pizza company as they do not want to employ a pizza box folder.

In terms of technical execution, Parasite is less overtly noticeable than The Lighthouse, with its primary strength coming from its narrative and characters. However, there's still a good deal to praise within this film technically, especially the camerawork, which is astounding. There's a feeling of static-ness and almost serenity from a good deal of the shots in this film (most of which are in the wealthy family's house, I wonder if that's a coincidence), and certain shots have an almost unsettling feeling of symmetry or sterility. The camerawork also changes according to the tone of the film, with a dynamic feeling and smooth cuts in what I refer to as the heist-film portion of the movie, which is in stark contrast to the more suspenseful or frantic movements the camera makes in the latter parts of the film. It's essentially a sampler for all manner of different ways to utilize the camera in order to elicit feeling, and should be viewed as such. Violence (of which there is some, but not an egregious amount) in Parasite is presented strangely, truth be told. In comparison to other western films (since that's what I by-and-large watch), Parasite doesn't 'censor' violence by using a shake-cam or other means of shielding the impact and ugliness of violence in the real world, having in these moments for the camera to be stationary with no ambiguity or shielding for the audience. It's a technique that made me incredibly uncomfortable, which is honestly how one should seem when presented with these uncut sequences depicting mortal danger. There's also a noticeable lack of music (to my memory) in the non-montage sequences, which adds to the altogether feeling of reality of the film, like this could be happening as I type this review right now. That's all that jumped out at me while watching Parasite, it's probably a cameraman's wet dream, but it's also a study in how the camera can aid in setting the tone of the story being told.

One of the many hilarious dramatic sequences of the film. Don't be alarmed, there's nothing horrific happening, at least horrific in the eyes of a person who doesn't live in isolation.

Of course at this point I'm going to recommend that you see Parasite, and understand that it's not only a great foreign film, but a great accessible film to boot. The Lighthouse is a bit more on the artsy side of the spectrum, but Parasite is anything but (meaning not overly artistic). It's probably one of the more easily watchable of these high art films that I've seen this year, though my review is a bit late. It might be the foreign film that gets Best Picture at the Oscars (or at least best foreign language film) but at this point in the year it's a toss-up since it's been a great one for cinephiles. If you want a film about social class that criticizes exploitation from both sides of the wealth divide while still acknowledging the complexities and necessities made by the system, then you cannot go wrong with the masterwork of narrative and cinematic film that is Parasite.

Note: It may be a tad difficult at this point to find showings in theaters (it was a limited release in my area), but with any luck soon it will come to streaming or DVD/Blu-ray, or perhaps it's still showing.