Won Direction

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2020)

The Best Picture win for "Parasite" finally convinced some local cinemas to me to give it a whirl. Though I enjoyed it, I'm not sure I know genuinely know enough about South Korea class systems to be sure that I fully understood it. (Also, I apologise in advance for butchering South Korean Nomenclature in the next paragraph)
Kim Ki-Woo (Woo-sik Choi) lives in a subterranean apartment with his family. One day, he is offered the chance to tutor English to Park Da-Hye (Jung Ji-So) the daughter of a wealthy family. Spying the opportunity to exploit the family, Ki-Woo brings in his sister Kim Ki-Jung (Park So-dam) as art tutor to Da-Hye's younger brother. His father, Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) replaces the family's chauffer and most importantly, his mother, Park Chung-sook (Jang Hye-Jin) replaces Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun) as the families trusted housekeeper. All is going well for the Kim family, until one night when the Parks are away - the former housekeeper returns and requests access to the basement, to collect something she's left behind.
I enjoyed "Parasite" a lot. The performances are great. Kim Ki-taek is probably the standout but there really is nobody who lets the film down. The direction and cinematography are excellent. I enjoyed the story, and particular, not knowing exactly where the film was going to go. I'd seen "The Host" before, so I know that Boon Joon-Ho is capable of taking his films into B-Movie territory so I had all sorts of potential horror/science fiction plots in mind. I don't feel like the film suffered in the second half although I accept that for some the switch from a confidence trickster movie to more of a revenge thriller might be a bit too much for some.
My problem was that I really don't know much about how South Korean society works. I'm assuming that he film is parable about the tiered levels of class and money in Korea. That the "Parasite" of the title can be considered both as the Kim family scamming money from the Parks, and the Parks living of the labour of their lower class employees. But again, I feel like I'm guessing this, rather than being sure.
That doesn't really affect my appreciation though of an excellent film and a worthy best picture winner this year.