Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho)

As much as I liked this movie, and applaud its win at the Oscars, for some reason I've totally forgotten why [

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the original maid's husband was locked up in that cellar. Or if it made sense. I remember thinking that as soon as they revealed the secret stairway behind the shelf that I felt a twang of dissapointment.

] Like it had overstepped its carefully calibrated boundaries, here was the point that some artifice was going to be injected so that there would be some more tangible thrills and conflict. Mind, it was a very fleeting sensation, which dissipated as it went along. At one point the [

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original maid comes screaming out of the stairwell, ready to pounce, but she's swiftly kicked back by Mrs. Kim in an utterly hilarious sequence since she does it so casually. But Mrs. Park was right there as well. She didn't hear anything?

] Perhaps the movie expects us to just accept it since Mrs. Park had been described as a simpleton after all.

So siding just a tad with Pop Trash. It's an absurd movie at times, but flirting with implausibility.

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Originally Posted by Morris Schæffer

As much as I liked this movie, and applaud its win at the Oscars, for some reason I've totally forgotten why [

Show Spoiler

the original maid's husband was locked up in that cellar. Or if it made sense. I remember thinking that as soon as they revealed the secret stairway behind the shelf that I felt a twang of dissapointment.

] Like it had overstepped its carefully calibrated boundaries, here was the point that some artifice was going to be injected so that there would be some more tangible thrills and conflict. Mind, it was a very fleeting sensation, which dissipated as it went along. At one point the [

Show Spoiler

original maid comes screaming out of the stairwell, ready to pounce, but she's swiftly kicked back by Mrs. Kim in an utterly hilarious sequence since she does it so casually. But Mrs. Park was right there as well. She didn't hear anything?

] Perhaps the movie expects us to just accept it since Mrs. Park had been described as a simpleton after all.

So siding just a tad with Pop Trash. It's an absurd movie at times, but flirting with implausibility.

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It was established that [

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the architect of the house went bankrupt and hid away in the house to avoid embarrassment and creditors and such.

]

Ah ok it comes back to me now. Ok, that I can sort of believe.

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Originally Posted by Morris Schæffer

Ah ok it comes back to me now. Ok, that I can sort of believe.

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It's a quick discussion when they are staring at the painting, which I think for me, is why this established dialog pays off so well later.

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Originally Posted by Morris Schæffer

[

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the original maid's husband was locked up in that cellar. Or if it made sense. I remember thinking that as soon as they revealed the secret stairway behind the shelf that I felt a twang of dissapointment.

] Like it had overstepped its carefully calibrated boundaries, here was the point that some artifice was going to be injected so that there would be some more tangible thrills and conflict.

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Dude, at that point the movie has already expected you to accept the family's plan working perfectly well despite relying on some factors that are impossible to predict. The movie even pokes fun at this later when the father expresses his views on planning in general. I'm not criticizing the film and otherwise I think Bong is always playing on the limits of plausibility.

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Originally Posted by Dukefrukem

It was established that [

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the architect of the house went bankrupt and hid away in the house to avoid embarrassment and creditors and such.

]

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Wait ... what? What happened to that guy? He died down there?

No, the architect moved out, and out of embarrassment didn't told the coming Park family about the hidden basement. During the house having no occupation in between two families, the housemaid sneaked her husband in. (They both sung praise of the architect and also condemned the Kims for treating the house badly with their drunken party)

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Originally Posted by Pop Trash

Wait ... what? What happened to that guy? He died down there?

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I assumed that [

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the architect or the former owner, and the former house keeper's husband was the same person. Is that not the case?

]

The architect is a different man, who the original housekeeper previously worked for and reveres. [

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Separately, the housekeeper's husband has fallen into debt and starts living beneath the mansion where his wife works to escape his creditors.

]

EDIT: Didn't see Peng's post before this reply. He's nailed it.

The architect is the previous owner of the house.

So both the architect and the housemaid's husband had to move down there to escape creditors? Tough times for Koreans! Mike D'angelo had this argument that the Kim family are too clever to be that poor or if they were that clever they would have come up with a better solution. I don't really buy that since I've known a lot of people in the states that are over educated and under (or un) employed including myself at various times and it might be even worse in South Korea.

But I do wonder what is up with Korea (or is it a screenplay contrivance?) that multiple characters are hiding out from creditors. Are these people hiding from the loan shark mafia? The most creditors have done with me is leave some annoying phone calls and if gets that bad you can change your phone number.

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Originally Posted by Pop Trash

So both the architect and the housemaid's husband had to move down there to escape creditors?

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No, the architect of the home never lived down there. He built the bunker in the event of a North Korean missile attack. His only connection to the plot is that that original housemaid used to work for him.

One of the aspects that I find more interesting about the film is how the couple hiding in the basement and the family represent two different types of poor people - those who have assimilated their different standing in life and consider themselves unworthy of wealth, genuinely admiring the people who tower above them, and those who resent the unfairness of the world and take advantage of the rich whenever their can. And the family's son oscillates between those two worldviews, most notably when he becomes dazzled by the "beauty" of the guests of the birthday party and wonders if he could ever mingle among them.

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Originally Posted by Pop Trash

But I do wonder what is up with Korea (or is it a screenplay contrivance?) that multiple characters are hiding out from creditors. Are these people hiding from the loan shark mafia? The most creditors have done with me is leave some annoying phone calls and if gets that bad you can change your phone number.

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Loan sharks are very much a thing in Korea. Basically desperate people borrowing money from people they really shouldn't.

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Originally Posted by DavidSeven

No, the architect of the home never lived down there. He built the bunker in the event of a North Korean missile attack. His only connection to the plot is that that original housemaid used to work for him.

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That's how I remember it. I think Duke is mistaken. I believe the time line goes like this ...

- architect designs house, builds house, lives in house, hires on peach allergen maid to clean house
- peach allergen maid's husband gets in trouble with creditors, is going broke, she hides him down in the bomb shelter to hide him from sleazy loan shark types (think the type of guys after Howie in Uncut Gems)
- architect moves out, puts house up for sale, realtors or whoever is selling it retain the maid to keep up appearances, husband still down in the bomb shelter, Park family moves in and keeps on the maid from the architect (probably w/ some conniving from the maid)
- everything goes swimmingly until ...

Thank you for the clarification.

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Originally Posted by Pop Trash

That's how I remember it. I think Duke is mistaken. I believe the time line goes like this ...

- architect designs house, builds house, lives in house, hires on peach allergen maid to clean house
- peach allergen maid's husband gets in trouble with creditors, is going broke, she hides him down in the bomb shelter to hide him from sleazy loan shark types (think the type of guys after Howie in Uncut Gems)
- architect moves out, puts house up for sale, realtors or whoever is selling it retain the maid to keep up appearances, husband still down in the bomb shelter, Park family moves in and keeps on the maid from the architect (probably w/ some conniving from the maid)
- everything goes swimmingly until ...

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Yep!

Now say it again and again and again.

Jessica
Only Child
Illinois
Chicago.

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Originally Posted by transmogrifier

Loan sharks are very much a thing in Korea. Basically desperate people borrowing money from people they really shouldn't.

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Hell loan sharks are a thing here.

I loved this movie. I am still thinking about it so the title works particularly well in that regard. Also the part where the daughter helps the brother fake his resume is funny to me. I relate to the search for wifi because that's what I had to do years ago back when it wasn't as afforable as it is and awful dial up was still a thing.

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Originally Posted by Dukefrukem

Thank you for the clarification.

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Ditto!

The film leaving Thai Netflix prompts a rewatch for the first time since before pandemic. And the increase of flatter class-warfare films since then makes it even more impressive how screenwriters Bong and Han shrewdly resists the easy way of making the rich Parks commit any overt monstrous act or exhibit any stereotypical-grotesque personality; they're the system's commonly found ending indicators, not its more top-heavy main drivers. It's why my favorite performance of this all-around great ensemble remains Cho Yeo-jeong. 10/10