Up and down the ladders

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2020)

Some stories are plain and simple, a line from A to B. Some are convoluted mindgame mazes that force you to solve riddles or to stay forever lost. And then there's this film. A traditional Asian gift of layers upon layers of wrapping, each concealing and disguising not just the shape but the essence of what's inside. And in the end, the gift might not be what's in there, but the act of unwrapping itself.
I'm amazed how Bong Joon Ho tricks us into believing that this is a cheap con artist comedy at first. It was almost natural to shout "No way! This can't be the film everyone's raving about!". Had I recalled that this man has also written Snowpiercer, I would not have been so simple. Just like the rich family whose house the parasites have invaded, naive and gullible, ready to call the number on the first business card given, we fall into the traps of easy interpretations, and Bong knows it well enough, giving us all these hints we understand only after a while.
Parasite is definitely not about the action, and maybe not even about the visual brilliance, although the scene of running down the stairs, equally physical, social and psychological, under the rain is a phenomenally executed message, just like a scene of an elevated toilet bowl regurgitating back what it's fed up taking in is an image only a person who made two Oscars kiss could come up with. In terms of graphic expression and witty dialogues, Parasite could make both Tarantino and Miyazaki proud, all at the same time.
This is no doubt a fancy wrapping, but the best thing about this film is what you feel through it. From condescending disbelief, to light interest, to full engagement, to the sense of watching a social message play within a movie, to feeling as if no borders of genre or common sense exist at all, to feeling dumbfounded and uncomfortable, to a sudden calm. As if a petty half-penny story has taken you into a Zen parable.
In the end, nothing remains. An experience that leaves you blank as a mountain side under the snow. So if you do see a light in the distance, don't rush to decode its signals. Just enjoy the scenery while it lasts. After all, it's what you came all the way up for.