The Best Film in Years.

Rating: 10/10 (14 November 2019)

Maybe it's just me, but I have known a decline in film quality since 2017. 2016 was a very good year for film--the last great year altogether. Have I simply seen too many films? In 2016 and earlier, There were a whole bunch of films that I could say "now that is one of the very best films I have ever seen." Since 2017, the most that I could say about I film I love would have been "I love this film. But I don't adore it...One of the best of the year, not ever." Finally near the end of the decade comes a film I can comfortably say is one of the finest motion pictures I have ever laid eyes on.
The movie is Korean so there are subtitles and it does run over two hours. But throughout that duration, time stands still. We are fully immersed in this tale of Shakespearean portions and Hitchcockian brains.
'Parasite' follows two families: the dirt poor Kims and the filthy rich Parks. Being on opposite ends of the social spectrum, many people interpret this as a social satirical film. I can see where they are coming from, but I didn't care about that. Many different themes such as identity are also looked at, but that is all just icing on the cake. Placing them on opposite ends of the spectrum just makes the story and characters another relationships all the more great.
it is sad seeing the Kims in such bad living conditions, so we root for them right away to get out of the slums. Ki-woo is the son who aspires to get out of poverty by attending university. He is approached by one of his university friends who is going overseas to study to take over tutoring Park Da-hye in english. Ki-woo does not know English well, but figures he can fake it and make some money. he may be just a tutor, but it pays well. He finds out that the Parks are looking for a therapist for their son, so Ki-woo gets his sister to assume a new identity and be the boy's therapist. With more money coming and only two more people in the Kim family in need of a good job, it all seems like a sinch to get them in. But getting rid of people in their way and keeping their true identities under wraps from the Parks will be harder than they could fathom.
'Parasite' could be simplified as "family vs family" but there are a couple of more characters other than the regular family members that are all so interesting. Most movies cannot handle developing these many characters. They are smart, sympathetic, even likeable.
The reason I call this film "Hitchcockian" is because of its power to thrill us and take the viewer to places they could never imagine. Even when a movie is unpredictable, the payoffs are plausible and the viewer is able to tie things together easily. But with this, each time a twist comes (which is frequent) the viewer is still left flabbergasted and completely caught off guard. The director really pulls out the rug from underneath.
Watching this movie was such a breath of fresh air and director, Bong Joon-Ho could easily have messed up at any moment. But there is not one second of wasted or subpar material. In fact, it it just the opposite: the movie keeps building and just gets better by the minute. The thrills get stronger and stronger as the twists get smarter and more intricate. With all that happens 'Parasite' becomes an imservie film experience that you will never forget.
4/4