Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho)

[Peng]

[Peng]

Starting off with a very minor nitpick of why this hovers just below Memories of Murder in term of the director's all-timer for me. Parasite's conceptual ambition is dazzling, darkly delicious, and a pure adrenaline rush, but it may also overwhelm the film as a whole and its characters just a tiny bit. Bong's shifting of our sympathy and allegiance between the haves and have-nots is perfectly calibrated, but only 'Madame' and 'Mr. Kim' emerge as full, rich characters, mostly because of their performances. And as satisfying as many twists and turns are, he may have overdosed on loading those Chekhov's guns a bit for my liking, even if the playful tone goes a long away in alleviating them.

Otherwise? An instant class satire classic, featuring Bong's best, most precise direction, especially the navigation and composition of that modernist dream house, both around each corner that helps block the privileged's view from any vicious struggle (until it can't be contained or kept from them anymore), and up high and down below. A scene revolving around a spacious table and a sofa is both nail-biting and very scathing. He also expertly switches between tones, genres, and levels of barbed observations, on both sides of the money line.

It's striking to me how this scenario feels so uniquely Asian on class (in)difference. In recent months of Thai junta leader being officially elected to more years of power, due in large part to indifference from our upper-middles and elites, sparking an all-time high in class anger and resentment (and memes), the portrayal of "nice"-mannered but extremely oblivious and status-keeping family here is going to hit home hard. A pouring rainstorm can divide people of different stratums based on how hard they are affected (or not at all), but the most alienating class gap to overcome will be the lack of curiosity, that bleeds over into the lack of empathy, for those not having the privilege to be couched from it. 9/10

[Pop Trash]

Bong Joon Ho's Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs

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Show Spoiler

Brilliant film until it isn't. I'm sorry but the Morse code thing is stupid as hell. Unless it's all a dream or something, which is also stupid as hell. It seems like an easy story fix too. Can't he sneak out and send the kid a letter? He's already sneaking food. It's like if the ending of The Shawshank Redemption was written by someone bludgeoned in the head by a giant rock.

]

[dreamdead]

Pop Trash rightly anchors this film to Craven's film. I'll anchor it as well to Peele's Us, since Bong's film adopts many of the same reversals and third act shifts in my mind, though I feel that Bong's film doesn't wrap itself up as endlessly in knots explaining the invasion concept. I do like the thematic structure of Ki-woo drunkenly expressing the sentiment that he isn't lying to the Park family but merely manipulating and speeding up the trajectory of that arc, and how the coda operates as a final refusal of that concept.

I do need to think about PT's critique, but I feel like this is the first film since Lee's Burning from last year that makes me want to sit and think about such matters.

[Ezee E]

Going to def see this again. Currently my top of the year.

[Pop Trash]

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Show Spoiler

I watched it again. I feel a little stronger about the ending. For some reason I totally missed the cheat sheets for Morse code the first time around. I kept thinking everyone was conveniently an expert at Morse code, but that was my bad. I'll admit this screenplay is really tight. Almost tight to the point of incredulity, but things like the og. maid cutting the cctv both works in her favor that the family doesn't know she came back, but plays later that the cameras don't capture the father hiding out in the basement. Speaking of which, I think there is a read that the ending could entirely be a fantasy the son is having (obv him buying the house part is) but I'm inclined to think the father really is living in the bomb shelter, stealing food from Germans. I get the idea that the son doesn't quite pick up on the entirety of the letter he is sending out, that what we hear as an audience as voice / over is from the dad's perspective and that maybe the son only picks up on some of the Morse words sent out (enough to think his dad is still down there). But it's ambiguous (or "so metaphorical" as the film would say).

Interesting that the sense of smell (ie. "smelling homeless") factor in both Under the Silver Lake and Parasite from this year. I'm hard pressed to think of other films that use smell in such an interesting way (Perfume maybe? I didn't see it).

]

[dreamdead]

Really liked the explanation here in an interview with Bong over Ki-Jung (the daughter) and the film's ending. Won't quote from it here since it's still early in the release and spoiler risk is high...

This film remains high in the mind for pure craft, though some of the other Cannes films are due to be released in our area over the next month.

[Irish]

I peeked at this thread and kept thinking of Pop Trash's first post while watching the movie.

He's right, as much as I hate to admit it, but I think Craven's film was in some ways more honest.

"Parasite" is a peculiar movie because on a technical level, it's an absolute beauty. On a plot level, it's absurd. On a thematic level, it's weak.

I mean, I can kinda appreciate it for what it is and what it tries to do, but at the same time I choke on the idea that it's some sort of masterful social commentary of the current age.

[PURPLE]

I peeked at this thread and kept thinking of Pop Trash's first post while watching the movie.

He's right, as much as I hate to admit it, but I think Craven's film was in some ways more honest.

"Parasite" is a peculiar movie because on a technical level, it's an absolute beauty. On a plot level, it's absurd. On a thematic level, it's weak.

I mean, I can kinda appreciate it for what it is and what it tries to do, but at the same time I choke on the idea that it's some sort of masterful social commentary of the current age.

To quote a famous director:

"I think a lot of people have that tendency in our times. People don't really care about the true meaning or context behind things. They just focus on the fanciness we see on the surface."

Why would this not apply to people that watch his film?

[Ezee E]

Really liked the explanation here in an interview with Bong over Ki-Jung (the daughter) and the film's ending. Won't quote from it here since it's still early in the release and spoiler risk is high...

This film remains high in the mind for pure craft, though some of the other Cannes films are due to be released in our area over the next month.

This is a great interview indeed. Highly recommended after watching.

[Dukefrukem]

This movie sucked. It's filled with poor people.

[TGM]

This movie sucked. It's filled with poor people.

Vote "nay" or it didn't happen.

[Ezee E]

This movie sucked. It's filled with poor people.

:Tom Hardy "That's bait" meme:

[Dukefrukem]

Blown away.

Read this today too

https://deadline.com/2020/01/parasit...am-1202826072/

[Dukefrukem]

Bong Joon Ho's Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs

[

Show Spoiler

Brilliant film until it isn't. I'm sorry but the Morse code thing is stupid as hell. Unless it's all a dream or something, which is also stupid as hell. It seems like an easy story fix too. Can't he sneak out and send the kid a letter? He's already sneaking food. It's like if the ending of The Shawshank Redemption was written by someone bludgeoned in the head by a giant rock.

]

I agree with this. This is the only thing that bugged me.

[baby doll]

It's a damn entertaining movie, although needless to say not a classic on the order of High and Low or La Cérémonie (I haven't seen the Craven film). I wasn't bothered by the improbability of the morse code thing since the movie is cartoonishly exaggerated from the first scene. I also didn't care that it's never explained where the poor characters get the nice clothes they wear to the rich family's house.

[Grouchy]

I also didn't care that it's never explained where the poor characters get the nice clothes they wear to the rich family's house.

They aren't homeless and the father mentions a litany of previous jobs, so it's not that far fetched that they would have work clothes.

Anyway, this was as excellent and masterful as everyone keeps saying. The mixture between dark comedy (this is really laugh out loud funny) and really somber themes is very appealing to me. I'll have more to say after I process it a bit more.

[Grouchy]

To quote a famous director:

"I think a lot of people have that tendency in our times. People don't really care about the true meaning or context behind things. They just focus on the fanciness we see on the surface."

Why would this not apply to people that watch his film?

Hahah I was about to post the same thing. There's a lot going on thematically in his film, though. If anything he can be accused of trying to insert every little detail with too many metaphors and hidden layers.

I also thought of La Ceremonie and Chabrol in general while watching this. Although on a purely technical level, I'm sorry but Bong wipes the floor with that film.

[baby doll]

I also thought of La Ceremonie and Chabrol in general while watching this. Although on a purely technical level, I'm sorry but Bong wipes the floor with that film.

It's been quite a while since I've seen Chabrol's film (the last time I watched it was on VHS), but one of the things I liked about the film is the serene confidence of the direction, which is as elegant and purposeful as late Fritz Lang. But the main reason I think La Cérémonie is a great film and Parasite only a very good one is that is has more substantial and mysterious characters. By way of contrast, the narrative fluidity of Parasite (like Bong's other films) depends on the characters being hyper-legible from the outset.

[Grouchy]

Key word being "mysterious". I remember watching La Ceremonie with my mom (I was still living with my parents and yeah, it was probably VHS) and she was shocked because she didn't understand the motivations of the characters which Chabrol keeps somewhat ambiguous on purpose. In Bong's case, he wants us to empathize with his characters from the opening moments.

[Peng]

I also thought of La Ceremonie and Chabrol in general while watching this. Although on a purely technical level, I'm sorry but Bong wipes the floor with that film.

Three films Bong recommended people see while waiting to watch Parasite (he was interviewed at Cannes) are The Housemaid (1960), The Servant (1963), and La Ceremonie (1995). The last film is the only one I haven't watched yet; will get to it one of these days.

[Grouchy]

I'm missing The Servant.

[Pop Trash]

It's been quite a while since I've seen Chabrol's film (the last time I watched it was on VHS), but one of the things I liked about the film is the serene confidence of the direction, which is as elegant and purposeful as late Fritz Lang. But the main reason I think La Cérémonie is a great film and Parasite only a very good one is that is has more substantial and mysterious characters. By way of contrast, the narrative fluidity of Parasite (like Bong's other films) depends on the characters being hyper-legible from the outset.

I keep thinking about why I like Burning more, and I think it's because it's an enigmatic, hard to fully grasp film. Parasite is very good, but it's one of those non-English language films like City of God and Amelie that becomes a huge hit because anyone around the world can pick-up on what it's about. I also think the script is almost too good, to the point of incredulity. It's like a domino effect where one domino (scene) topples another domino (another scene) on and on until the end and when you step back, you think it's convenient that none of the dominoes stopped the story cold. I'm being pedantic because I still think it's a very good movie, but maybe not the unimpeachable masterpiece many think it is (it's currently the #1 movie of ALL TIME on letterboxd beating out The Godfather, 2001, Pulp Fiction, among other heavy hitters), and again, don't think it's even the best Korean film I've seen in the last five years (again, Burning) and I don't even watch that many Korean films.

[Peng]

In term of this decade's South Korean films, I like The Handmaiden, Kim Ki-Duk's Moebius, and (if it counts) Snowpiercer more than Burning. Parasite does remain my top one of the decade though.

[transmogrifier]

Top 10 Korean movies of the 2010s:

1. The World of Us (2016) - 77
2. Burning (2018) - 75
3. Bedeviled (2010) - 73
4. Bleak Night (2011) - 73
5. A Very Ordinary Couple (2013) - 72
6. Seoul Station (2016) - 71
7. Parasite (2019) - 71
8. Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019) - 71
9. Deranged (2012) - 69
10. The Tiger: An Old Hunter's Tale (2015) - 69