Parasite: A Connection That Leeches On To Perhaps The Audience

Rating: 10/10 (5 February 2020)

Parasite was one of the contenders for Best Picture that I was intrigued by. I had only heard good things going in, but nothing of the actual plot points. I came out of this film needing to sit down and process the events that just occurred. Nothing had prepared me for what I just endured. Parasite is truly a different film, with semi-realistic events. Think of it as the very absentminded Ibsen for film. Every plot point in this film seems to bounce off the following event very organically and oddly very calm. Although it gets gruesome towards the finish line, Parasite is a tale of manipulation as well as a lesson in class.
The film opens to the Kim family, a very low-class family living in a semi-basement in South Korea. The family consists of Ki-Taek, the father, Chung-Sook, the mother, Ki-Woo, the son, and Ki-jeong, the daughter. They all have low paying jobs as they struggle to maintain a middle-class lifestyle. The house struggles with animal infestation, as Ki-Taek insists that the windows stay open to ensure that the dust from automobiles would get into their house, acting as a bug disenfectant. Min-hyk, Ki-Woo's friend, offers the family a relic from his grandfathers house, a stone, which symbolizes ensures future success and wealth to the family that shelters it.
On his final night in town before studying abroad, Min-hyk offers Ki-Woo his job as an English Tutor for the wealthy Park family. Ki-Woo declines due to his lack of degrees, but Min-hyk insists that he create a fake resume with help from Ki-jeong, who excels with her photoshop. Ki-Woo enters the Park's house where the interview is to be held. Yeon-gyo, The mother of the Park Family, trusts him fully as he becomes an English Tutor for Da-hye, the eldest child. On his way out, he notices a painting by the youngest child, Da-song. Ki-Woo, under the alias "Kevin" from Mrs. Park, refers his cousin from Illinois named Jessica, who is actually Ki-jeong. Ki-Jeong and Mrs. Park discuss Da-song's artwork and she questions if he had a traumatic experience when the child was younger. Mrs. Park accepts Ki-jeong as Da-song's art therapist.
Understanding that they could all infiltrate the Park Family, Ki-Taek comes up with a plan. One night, while exiting the house, the Park's Driver insists on taking Ki-jeong home. She leaves a piece of her clothing in the backseat of the car, in order to get him fired for sexual matter while in his workspace. The driver is soon replaced by Ki-Taek. The maid, Moon-gwang, who lived in the house many years before the Parks, has a severe allergic reaction to peaches that were planted by the Kim family. The Kim's present the evidence as Tuberculosis, ensuring the maid gets fired and replaced by Chung-Sook. The whole family, now working in the house, experience an upper-class living style. The Park Family goes away for a camping trip, leaving the whole house to Chung-Sook, who secretly invites the whole family to live there as well.
That night, a heavy downpour begins across town. As the Kim's settle in to the Park House, drinking and eating, Moon-Gwang arrives at the door and pleads to Chung-Sook to let her inside, for she claims to have forgotten an item in the basement. The remaining Kims hide while Chung-Sook goes with Moon-Gwang and helps her move a cupboard, which reveals a secret door. Moon-Gwang opens the door to reveal her husband, Geun-sae, who had been living there for four years, hiding from Loan Sharks. Moon-Gwang pleads Chung-Sook to take care of him, but she declines. The remaining Kim's fall down the stairs and accidentally break the secret that they're all family to Moon-Gwang. She threatens to tell Mr and Mrs. Park, as Chung-Sook gets a phone call from Mrs. Park, who states the family is coming home due to the rain. Ki-Taek swiftly ties Moon-Gwang and Geun-Sae up in the basement and locks them downstairs. The Kim family clean up their mess and hide as the Parks re-enter unaware of the chaos that just ensued.
As Chung-Sook cleans up from the dinner prepared for the Parks, Ki-Taek, Ki-Woo, and Ki-Jeong all hide under the living room table. Da-Song, saddened by the fact that his birthday camping trip was ruined, insists on sleeping outside in his tent, in the midst of the storm. Mr. and Mrs. Park watch from the couch before they both fall asleep. Ki-Taek, Ki-Woo, and Ki-Jeong successfully sneak out of the house and find their old home flooded shoulder-high. The three gather their belongings as Ki-Woo grabs the stone given to the family for good luck. The three sleep in a gym alongside their previous neighbours.
The next morning, Mrs. Park insists on repaying the debt on making Da-Song's birthday fun by creating a last-minute garden party for him. She invites Ki-Jeong, while Da-hye requests Ki-Woo to attend, for they have secretly been in love. Mrs. Park accepts and invites Ki-Taek and Chung-Sook to attend as well. As the party is about to begin, Ki-Woo opens the door to the basement, ready to kill Moon-Gwang and Geun-sae. Geun-Sae gets free and mourns Moon-Gwang who succumbed to her injuries from the fight. Geun-Sae bashes Ki-Woo in the head with the stone and runs to the party, holding a steak knife. He then stabs Ki-Jeong, as Da-Song faints, revealing that Geun-Sae was the ghost that he saw, which created his childhood trauma. As Mr. Park insists that Ki-Taek drive them to the hospital, Ki-Taek murders Mr. Park for not understanding the importance of class. Ki-Taek flees the scene, Ki-Jeong dies from her injuries, Ki-Woo wakes up from a coma a couple of weeks later, alongside Chung-Sook. A few months later, Ki-Woo is walking on a hill by the Park's residence where he sees a message using Morse Code. Ki-Woo decodes it, to reveal that Ki-Taek has trapped himself in the secret basement, going full circle from where the film began.
Parasite is a film that has no end. It is a reflection on something that could potentially happen. Bong-Joon-Ho is a revolutionary director and this could be his best film yet. Although the premise may seem a tad dull and anti-climactic (ie. the first half of the film just being about infiltration), the film never loses your interest. A great example is during the films first climactic moment, when the Park's call. The audience is sweating as you watch the father, fighting to ensure that the Parks don't find out about the truth, the children sweeping through broken glass bottles, and the mother who makes dinner. Nothing too much happening and yet, you are so intrigued. I recommend Parasite be seen by everyone.
Overall, Parasite gets a 10.