Family Affairs

Rating: 10/10 (5 December 2019)

Winner of the Palme d'Or for Best Film in Cannes 2019, to say «Parasite» is to speak of five shining stars in the cinematic firmament. When you have to spill blood in a film, you have to dose it with genius, hit the target and know where and when to spill it with cunning and, above all, understand well why we spill it and get the viewer to understand that reason as well.
Don't get me wrong «Parasites» is not a bloody drama, but a beautiful film that with humor and gravity touches the three classic themes of art: it is a tragicomedy about love, life and death, it is a film about the joy of living, about survival, about the family of the 21st century, but not like the concept of family defined and defended by many, that sick, stifled definition, confined to religious dogmas and eulogistic of expired and obsolete values. It is about real and living families of the planet in 2019, many dispossessed and a few privileged, in a game of services and currency exchanges, in the last days of capitalism with its agenda of violence, horror and death.
Although director Bong Joon-ho has already made about ten feature films of various themes, I only know one of his films, the cult fable «The Guest», a horrific science fiction tale about the relationships within a poor and dysfunctional family of Seoul, that is put in check when a monster generated by the toxins thrown into the Han River by an American scientist, kidnaps a young member of that family nucleus. Again, in «Parasite», Bong addresses the family issue, opposing a poor family made up of the parents and two children, to a rich family with the same number of members. The moment they cross roads is the basis of the story. A third component, personified by a housekeeper, gives an unexpected twist to the story and leads to the violent climax, which is not the end of the fascinating story; at this point of the story, it still has another 15 minutes of history to tell, until the sad final close-up that ends this work.
When I watch films like "Parasites" my heart skips a beat, I wish that people would have access to a wide and cultured film offer, that we all could see works like this instead of consuming the despicable L.A. garbage that the cinemas offer, week after week, freezing the reasoning of people from the whole world; or having to wait for an exclusive film festival to project them fleetingly, and to be subject to serials of thrones and other lousy dishes. As soon as «Parasite» appears through any of the windows we have today to watch movies, don't miss it.