Con’s Score: 4 Peaches
This film is the Palme D’OR winner from Cannes, and the first South Korean film to do win it. It’s conceived, co-written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, who directed the sci-fi Snowpiercer and then Oktja for Netflix and set off a storm. Even though he calls it a “family film”, take that as an indication of his macabre sense of humour.
Ki-Taek’s (Song Kang Ho) family live in poverty in a semi-basement. They watch drunks piss on their windows while they have dinner, and they fold pizza boxes for their meagre living. It all changes when an old army friend of the young son, Ki-woo/Kevin (Choi Woo Shik), brings him a lucky rock and offers him an English teaching gig of a rich young innocent girl Da-Hye (Jung Ziso). She’s the daughter of Mr Park (Lee Sun Kyun) and the very innocent, but likeable wife Yeon-Kyo (Cho Yeo Jenong).
‘Kevin’ finds a job in the tasteful house for his artfully dodgy sister Ki-Jng/Kim (Park So Dam) – she’s very good at forging college degrees and taming the ADHD son. The house is run by the very efficient Housekeeper, Moon Gwan (Lee Jung Eun) and… I have to stop there.
Out of respect to a very impassioned plea in the productions notes from from Bong Joon Ho, I’ll reveal no more of the plot. He really wants to take you on a ride. One that’s more like a ghost rain than a rollercoaster. The latter is more exposed, and you know what you’re climbing into.
What I can tell you is the first two acts are hilariously funny. The dialogue is sharp and there is some unpredictable slapstick. Some of it even gets political and mocks their North Korean paranoia. There’s quite a bit of anger below the surface here. The class divide makes you empathise with Ki-Taek’s poor family, particularly when their house is flooded by heavy rain and thousands sleep in a gymnasium. Joon Ho is still sympathetic to the wealthy Park family. They’re not farcical caricatures, but they do have their upper class faults.
I do have to go into spoiler territory here… The third act is anything but family friendly. It has more echoes of Bong’s Snowpiercer than Oktja. It becomes quite dark and almost senseless. It’s like Joon Ho wrote himself into a corner and hacked his way out. The denouement then slips back into a soft reflection of its message about class, and is quite poignant. Joon Ho likes shifting the gears.
It was well received at the Sydney Film Festival and won the Official Selection prize. Bong said he wanted to make a film that felt quite honest and true. I’m not as convinced as the judges were.
The acting by the ensemble cast is spot on, the comic timing is excellent and much of the dialogue is honest. The lavish house was apparently purpose built for the film, and it also felt very real. However, the third act felt anything but that. The shifts in genres may have been set up by the father’s “The best plan is no plan” speech, but it all still felt excessive. It could almost describe the approach to the script. Maybe it’s the underlying anger that ultimately drives its comedy and resolution.
There is still plenty to recommend about Parasite. Just don’t take the kids.
PARASITE is in cinemas nationally from Thursday 27 June. List of locations here.
Con Nats – On The Screen
