Absolute work of art

Rating: 10/10 (6 January 2020)

As director Bong Joon-ho said during his Golden Globe-speech after winning best foreign film for "parasite": "Once you overcome the one-inch tall barriers of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.", and I am so happy I did. Having heard only good things about the movie I expected a lot, but it still exceeded my expectations tenfold.
Firstly, the writing is incredible. What seems to be quite a simple story about a family commiting fraud and deceipt to escape poverty, changes throughout the numerous twist and turns into something very unexpected, interesting and absolutely brilliant. The pacing is on point and from start to finish, the film takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions including, but not limited to: sadness, a feeling of well-deserved success, hapiness, guilt, unease, discomfort and fear.
Secondly, the score is fantastic and greatly accentuates these different feelings into something more. For example, the many intense and thrilling scenes are strengthened into a crippling suspense that leaves you unable to lose focus and calm down.
Finally, the ending is absolutely wonderful, although it also houses about the only critisism I have for this movie. After about half of the film I found myself wondering how on earth they were going to be able to pull of the ending, but they did, and it was not what I expected. Some of the decisions the characters make in the final act seems a bit out of left field and takes them in directions that doesn't neccesarily feel right. I do however think that's the point and it brings a very intriguing point about the movie's theme into question.
In short, "Parasite" is nothing short of a masterpiece.