Parasite (South Korea, 2019)
Original version with subtitles
Directed by: Bong Joon-ho
Age rating: 16
Running time: 2 hours 11 minutes
Bong Joon-ho has won South Korea’s first Palme d’Or. “Parasite” explores issues of social inequality in an era of increasingly polarised societies: what happens when a family from a lower social class infiltrates the world of a wealthy family?
Ki-taek and his wife Chung-sook are unemployed; they cannot afford a university education for their two adult children, Ki-woo and Ki-jung. They live in a basement flat with no Wi-Fi, but plenty of vermin, and drunks urinate on their windows.
This family is endearing, yet dubious: the mother (a former professional hammer thrower) possesses impressive strength, whilst Ki-taek, as the patriarch, is amusing in the way he bursts with pride at even the most insignificant achievements of his (admittedly resourceful) children. Ki-taek’s family gets the chance to change their precarious living situation when Ki-woo happens to become a private tutor for the daughter of the wealthy Park family. Gradually, the whole family tricks their way into the Parks’ house…
