Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Parasite (Gisaengchung - 2019)

Well deserving of critics' raves, this is a story of an impoverished South Korean family who worm their way into a wealthy one. It's funny, clever, and beautifully crafted by director/co-writer Bong Joon-ho and co-writer Han Jin-won. Try to avoid spoilers because some things happen that I didn't see coming and I want you to enjoy it as much as Jack and I did. Yes, it's a bit long, at 2:12, and you will have to read subtitles. In the words of the great Joan Rivers, "Oh, grow up!"

Note: it's customary in Korean names to say the family name first, e.g. John Robert Smith would be Smith John Robert. I've adhered to this tradition in this post, even though many of the names have been westernized, e.g. Joon-ho Bong, on imdb.

We meet the poor family first: Choi Woo-Sik as the son, Park So-dam as his sister, Song Kang-Ho as their father, and Jang Hye-jin as their mother. Particularly noteworthy in the rich family is Jo Yeo-jeong as that mother.

The wonderful music by Jung Jaeil is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and more. Choi sings the final tune.

Song was last blogged for Bong's Snowpiercer and Bong and Jung for Okja.

Parasite is the first Korean movie to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes and we and Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are in agreement, averaging 99 and 93%, respectively.

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