Parasite

Genre: Thriller, black comedy
Language: Korean
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Rating: ★★★★★

                                   

Just when the entire world started to throw more light on the K-pop and K-drama culture, came the black comedy Korean film Parasite. A movie that wasn’t recognized much initially in India until it was nominated for the Oscars. Never has the Academy Awards chosen a non-English movie for the Best Picture category. This stimulated the world’s curiosity and interest. I have never seen so many people talk about a Korean movie in Tamil Nadu. The theatres were filled with not just the movie-buffs and K-culture followers but also other people. When a neighbour uncle who has watched (mostly) Tamil and (sometimes) English movies asked me about that film, I must say I gaped at him for at least half a minute. But then, there was also this huge bunch of audience who went to the theatres merely due to a belief. A belief in a rumor that Parasite was a copy of an old K.S. Ravi Kumar movie – Minsara Kanna. Is it true? To know the answer you should watch the movie.

The movie is about two extreme families – one is the Kim family and the other is the Park family. Kim family is extremely poor that they live in a semi-basement apartment and almost entirely unemployed. Park family is really rich and lives in a lavish bungalow. Suggested by his friend, the Kim family’s son Kim Ki Woo becomes the English tutor of the Park family’s daughter and slowly… the movie unravels into an unexpected ride of roller-coaster. In less than half an hour into the movie, you may think you know what the entire movie is about from its name and what you have seen so far. But when the movie takes a different turn to be divergent from what you were excepting, it will have you bewildered and more interested. The movie does not fail to have its audience at the edge of their seats with its suspense. But it goes ahead to surprise us by sending chills down the spine in spite of it not being a horror movie. It is most impressive, though, when we realize we so badly want the Kim family to not be caught red-handed even though we know they are doing something wrong. The cinematography and the background score does a great job at making us hesitate to even blink or take a snack break.

The movie is directed by Bong Joon Ho, whose movies are not new to the international screens. The director is known for surprising his audience with unexpected elements in his films and he does the same with Parasite as well. Here, he uses a different strategy to mess with the audience’s mind. His opening scene is a close-to-reality portrayal of the poverty where the Kim family is pleased to find accessibility to a free wifi network in their bathroom. It eventually has us comprehending their desperation and willingness to take any measures to better their lives. The usage of their smartness to deceive the Parks and make the best out of the opportunity is outstanding. However, their carelessness when they get to live a glimpse of their dream is just outrageous. Their scenes of elusions are just perfect to make us feel like we might die if they don’t escape.

On the other hand, Bong’s concept of the Parks being annoyingly ignorant to what is happening inside their house yet luxurious enough to turn their nose up at the “smell of subway” that they catch from the Kims may be a bit uncanny. While we are too engrossed in the crawling of Kim’s family into the Parks’ lives, the ending is just shocking and quick with a mixture of conscience, desperation, and insanity. Just when we think Bong at least finishes his movie with a ray of hope, … let’s just say karma made a cameo appearance there. The metaphorical elements used are both immense and subtle, if that makes sense. 

Coming back to the question, we asked previously, the movie is definitely NOT a remake of Minsara Kanna. I think saying Parasite is a remake of Minsara Kanna is like saying P.S. I Love You is a remake of Mouna Ragam just because they both have a romance base and both the female leads lose their love. So if you haven’t watched the movie yet thinking ‘Ada, I have watched this movie long back’, you might want to reconsider. And If you are a k-drama lover, it is a must-watch film. You may find many familiar faces that will definitely excite you. At last I would like to say, “it is a funny and scary movie” that earned an eight minutes standing ovation in Cannes, it definitely will not disappoint you.