ONE OF 2019'S BEST...!

Rating: 10/10 (9 December 2019)

Bong Joon-ho's (Snowpiercer/The Host) latest is coming to local screens w/the Palm D'Or stamp of excellence & it is well deserved. This twisty long con of a film finds a down on their luck family (downtrodden due to their own circumstances or the current economic paradigm in South Korea?) who thanks to a friend of the college aged son gets an opportunity to get a job as tutor for a rich family (the daughter's grades aren't up to snuff, at least according to the overprotective mother) but once he gets his foot in the door he finds he can bring the rest of his disparate clan (his mom, dad & sister) into the mix. His sister comes in as an artistic coach to the well-off youngest son & elaborate schemes are perpetrated to oust the driver & the maid (who worked at the property w/the architect of the manse) so that his parents can fill in those slots. So far so good (depending on whose side you happen to be on since the elite clan is depicted is out of touch & inheritors of the new Korea) but then a genius twist happens which throws the entire plot upside down, forcing our anti-heroes to make a decision which will effect their world. Wonderfully delineated as a lighthearted (at least for the most part) 'me against them' (there's a wonderful sequence where the working family rushes home in the rain & their journey home is literally a descent into hell) which rides the fine line between cruel & mirthful. One of the year's best, catch it!