Parasite is The Best Movie of 2019:
Parasite became the first Korean film to win the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival by unanimous vote in May which speaks volumes about the quality of the movie. Parasite (Gisaengchung) is a family tragicomedy, directed by the South Korean director Boon Joon-ho, who has also directed Okja (2017) and Snowpiercer (2013).
The movie stars the brilliant Kang-ho Song, whom you all must know from Memories of Murder, The Host and Okja, and he plays the role of Kim Ki-taek in this movie, a father, who, along with his family occupies a semi-basement apartment, and none of them have a regular source of income.
Their misfortune comes to a halt when Kim ki-taek’s son Park Dong-ik is given an opportunity to tutor the daughter of the rich Park family. The plot progresses after that and the Kim family begins to scheme about how to con the rest of their family into the Parks’ house; hence the title Parasite.
It is obvious that they all succeed in infiltrating the Park family house but the movie is far too rich to end here. Without diving into the spoilers, we can only say that Parasite just might be the most pleasurable experience you have in a movie this year. The movie is a dark satire about the class divide in South Korea and although it starts as a comedy, the second half is far from a comedy as it turns into a terrifying and tragic reality.
The first half is pure comedy, and it doesn’t serve it to you on a platter, the humor is intelligent and treats the audience with respect and it is extremely funny. It is easily one of the funniest movies you will see this year as the humor is smart and clever. But it all changes after the first half and that is where the actual movie starts and you finally see the message the director intended you to see from the start.
There aren’t any good or bad guys in the movie, you can understand the motivation behind both the families and you can even relate with them. There comes a point in the movie where the tone of the story shifts, it starts to get less funny and a lot more serious, and you won’t be able to take your eyes off the screen after this point.
The best thing about the shift is the fact that it is completely plausible and realistic. It is portrayed in such a way that you’ll believe it completely and it is terrifying, to be honest. The events depicted in the movie will scare you and haunt you for the rest of your life. You won’t be able to stop thinking about the movie even after months as you won’t be able to deny the possibility of something like that happening.
Apart from the brilliant storyline, the movie is beautifully shot and the visuals are mesmerizing. The imagery used in the movie contains a lot of metaphors and you just might notice them if you pay close attention. The actors in the movie are fantastic, there is not a single weak performance in the movie. You can’t really justify the decisions taken by some of the characters, but whatever they are doing makes sense as the acting is so amazing.
Parasite is the type of movie which was necessary for today’s flashy CGI-ridden era and it uncovers the plight that people from different social class face every day. We cannot emphasize enough how much we want you all to see this movie as we are certain you’ll definitely love it.
The movie is in the Korean language and we recommend you to watch it with subtitles as the dubbed version will ruin the movie for you. If you are a fan of good cinema, this shouldn’t be a problem for you. So, go and watch Parasite immediately if you haven’t already as it is undoubtedly one of the best movies of this year, possibly even the decade.
