Parasite(Gisaengchung)

"Misplaced Familyhood"

I don't watch Korean movies or their TV dramas which are all over the boob tube, or online. 

BUT.

With all the fuss about "Parasite", not to mention it winning all the best movie awards from Europe to America, I got curious! 

It is only now that the world is opening up to Director Bong Joon Ho but it seems he has been actively making movies in his native land, South Korea. This tale of two families from very different spectrum of society tackles class conflict and discrimination which the audience no matter our social standing, can totally relate with on many levels.

The Kim family are bottom dwellers, for lack of a better word but they embody it in every sense of the word. The family of 4 - middle aged parents, Ki-woo, their son and their daughter Ki-jung - live in a sub basement of an apartment, getting 'free' pest control (even if they are bathed in toxic chemicals), leeching off the wifi connection of their neighbors, yet they do earn from folding pizza boxes for a small company.

Ki-woo's friend will be studying in the US so he asks Ki-woo to replace him as the English tutor of Da-hye. She is the naive yet smart daughter of the Park couple. She, together with her younger "troubled" brother and parents live in this beautiful house which was designed by Namgoong, a famous architect. The builder of the house had a housekeeper Moon gwang who now works for the Park family. Through a conniving plan, the entire Kim family are also employed by the affluent family as their art therapy tutor, driver and housekeeper.

One rainy night when the Parks are out of town, their former housekeeper shows up at the residence and all hell breaks loose. This occurs about one hour into the film, a twist is revealed through very clever film editing. This otherwise ordinary film suddenly evolves into a morbid and violent tale, a twist of fate which adds more layers to an already complex story line. In this regard, I believe this twist + the "did.it.happen.or.did.not.happen?" ending sets the perfect stage for "Parasite" getting all its accolades, and deservedly so.

It was filmed in some Seoul shanty town depicting the very bare existence of the Kim family. Yet the luxurious mansion of the Park family was built from scratch in the studio. Great visually vibrant sets (the poor district & the upscale neighborhood hidden behind high walls) that highlights the huge social and economic divide between the two families. 

To end - if you ask me, who does the title refer to? I believe, all of them are parasites. The Kim family conniving their way into the household and the good graces of the Parks. The wealthy yet lonely and snobby employers looking down on their 'servants' like insulting their smell. The real bottom dwellers, 3rd part of the equation, yes there are more characters. They are also free loading off the totally clueless Park family. So yes, I get where Bong Joon Ho got the idea behind his award winning critique on the socio-economic barriers between the haves and the have-nots.