The hype is justified.

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2020)

I'm a little biased in that I've seen all of Bong Joon-ho's movies and have a heart for Korean cinema in general, but I can say without bias that this movie delivers on the hype. I'll be honest I was avoiding this as I kinda knew going in it was probably going to be depressing and horrifying. There's a running theme in the cinephile community that Korea has it's genre of film, unique unto itself. In Hollywood, films often go through 5 or more drafts that start with big amorphic ideas and edge closer toward crowd pleasing sometimes until they're just 90 minute commercials for the lead actors career. Korean film seems to lack that filter of cost X audience X test screening -+ = blah blah blah. They take big ridiculous ideas and drive them towards the powerful nebulous first draft finish line no matter how emotional draining or traumatic. In a word, Korean cinema can be very "dark".
Bong Joon-ho has a special talent for creating 4 dimensional characters, larger than the circumstances in the film and when the payoff comes for them it's likely to cause heart palpitations.
Parasite is a film about grifters who invade a rich family's home, but this is no simple film about "Oh no when will the family figure them out!?". This is far bigger and far more shocking. Obviously it's an amazing movie. This little blurb is more here to be a warning. Gird your heart strings when heading into this.