Amazing Attention To Detail

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2020)

Parasite is one of the best movies I have seen. This is not an arguable fact at this point, it is so well made and the story line is brilliant. The attention to detail in this movie astounds me. Every single thing has meaning, from the levels of the house to even the portrait that Da Song paints when he is younger, which looks more like Geun-sae than a self portrait. I really appreciate the commentary on the different classes, and how their perspectives are changed through dialogue, through clothing and even through lighting. The whole idea of how the upper class will only take action when something affects them is so prominent, with the Parks not even aware of the troubles of their workers until it affects them. And, even when they do find out, they only do what will help them and their kind, picking up Da Song and even stepping over a girl who has just been stabbed. It's such a stunning movie and I give it the utmost praise.
Another thing this film comments on is the idea of the American Dream. At the end of the film, Ki-woo has an idea of working hard and buying the house that his father is trapped in. That is what the American Dream is, the idea that if you work hard and get an education, you can achieve everything. However, this will probably never happen for Ki-woo. It's mentioned at the beginning that he has been denied from schools in the past, but he thinks this time will be different. But it's the tragic truth that it probably won't be different. If it were, the film wouldn't end with that being a dream. It would cut off one shot earlier, with the father hugging his son, and then it ends. But there is that final shot, establishing that it's just goal that he won't be able to achieve. And so he starts off how he did at the beginning of the movie, socks hanging above his head and him sitting at his kitchen table in a basement.