Writer-director Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite has finally arrived on UK shores, riding a wave of critical acclaim, award season buzz and public interest the like of which the world has never quite seen before. The South Korean picture, armed with 124 wins across award season and counting - with the fate of its six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, set to be decided in the coming hours - has become a certified phenomenon, making history in a number of ways. So hotly anticipated and eagerly awaited, can it possibly live up to the precedent that surrounds it?
Parasite is a film best enjoyed and appreciated knowing as little as possible beforehand, so we'll keep this brief: the Kim family's economic hardship looks set to be broken when one of them is hired by the wealthy Parks family as a tutor to their oldest child. Soon, they begin searching for ways to get the whole family employed. Featuring a top-class, award-winning ensemble, including Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun and Chang Hyea-jin, Parasite is - and it's not a word I use regularly - a masterpiece.
Against all odds, Parasite somehow manages to exceed the most impossibly high expectations that lay before it. In this extraordinary exploration of class, wealth versus poverty and opportunity, Bong Joon-Ho has crafted a film that seemingly defies genre: a film as wildly entertaining as it is social sharp, as relentlessly funny as it is gut-wrenchingly tragic, as unbelievably thrilling as it is genuinely devastating. Shifting in its tonal work and somehow nailing it every time, when you think you have Parasite pinned down, it switches with such jaw-dropping precision and confidence that it's a wonder that one film could master just one of these tones, nevermind every single one in the same picture.
Joon-Ho's screenplay is a thing to truly marvel. There exists such grey within the world he has built that so many writers would fail to realise with the depth he does here, a testament to his astounding ability to write beautifully complex characters and endlessly interesting situations. The lens you bring to the film will, of course, influence your reading of the various twists and turns that inform the plot, but there's an openess that a talent like Joon-Ho can exploit that means you should be able to understand Parasite from a number of angles: you can see the right, the wrong, the tragic and the frustration in the scenario. It would be so easy to paint heroes and villains but Bong goes beyond that, understanding that the real enemy is not the individual, but a system.
Joon-Ho's direction is similarly superlative. As much a visual storyteller as a narrative one, every frame and scene holds meaning - there's not an ounce of flab or wasted minute in this carefully calculated achievement, so cleanly edited that the 132-minute runtime whizzes by. Stunningly envisioned (they built the Parks' house from scratch!), the production design and cinematography develop the film's themes further, exploring the geography of the characters' worlds in such a fascinating way. Complimented by Jung Jae-il's soundtrack, which enriches every emotion - panic, heartbreak, hilarity, tragedy and more - so tremendously, seldom has every film department come together to create something so unquestionably perfect that you can sit in complete awe from beginning to end.
Note-perfect, every single cast member delivers the goods here and ensures that every tonal change is landed so securely. While it is truly devastating that the film received so few acting nominations across the award season, it is (in a sad, sad way) understandable: you simply cannot separate this cast. Most ensembles have a few key players that stand out, but every member of the Parasite cast are working in such perfect harmony that it is completely impossible to name one actor or actress as the sole standout. Its historical SAG win, making them the first foreign-language ensemble to take the accolade, is so thoroughly deserved - this band of talent are individually extraordinary but even stronger as one body.
Films like Parasite are a rarity. It is surprising, unpredictable, funny, tragic, thoughtful and breathtaking. From the direction to the writing and the acting to the craft, it is as pitch-perfect as filmmaking comes, succeeding on every level imaginable and blowing every expectation out of the water. Parasite is, comfortably, one of the best films I have ever seen. It is one of the best films ever made.
Summary: There's no other way to say it: Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite is a masterpiece. A fully-fledged masterpiece. This IS the best picture of the year.
Parasite is a film best enjoyed and appreciated knowing as little as possible beforehand, so we'll keep this brief: the Kim family's economic hardship looks set to be broken when one of them is hired by the wealthy Parks family as a tutor to their oldest child. Soon, they begin searching for ways to get the whole family employed. Featuring a top-class, award-winning ensemble, including Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun and Chang Hyea-jin, Parasite is - and it's not a word I use regularly - a masterpiece.
Against all odds, Parasite somehow manages to exceed the most impossibly high expectations that lay before it. In this extraordinary exploration of class, wealth versus poverty and opportunity, Bong Joon-Ho has crafted a film that seemingly defies genre: a film as wildly entertaining as it is social sharp, as relentlessly funny as it is gut-wrenchingly tragic, as unbelievably thrilling as it is genuinely devastating. Shifting in its tonal work and somehow nailing it every time, when you think you have Parasite pinned down, it switches with such jaw-dropping precision and confidence that it's a wonder that one film could master just one of these tones, nevermind every single one in the same picture.
Joon-Ho's screenplay is a thing to truly marvel. There exists such grey within the world he has built that so many writers would fail to realise with the depth he does here, a testament to his astounding ability to write beautifully complex characters and endlessly interesting situations. The lens you bring to the film will, of course, influence your reading of the various twists and turns that inform the plot, but there's an openess that a talent like Joon-Ho can exploit that means you should be able to understand Parasite from a number of angles: you can see the right, the wrong, the tragic and the frustration in the scenario. It would be so easy to paint heroes and villains but Bong goes beyond that, understanding that the real enemy is not the individual, but a system.
Joon-Ho's direction is similarly superlative. As much a visual storyteller as a narrative one, every frame and scene holds meaning - there's not an ounce of flab or wasted minute in this carefully calculated achievement, so cleanly edited that the 132-minute runtime whizzes by. Stunningly envisioned (they built the Parks' house from scratch!), the production design and cinematography develop the film's themes further, exploring the geography of the characters' worlds in such a fascinating way. Complimented by Jung Jae-il's soundtrack, which enriches every emotion - panic, heartbreak, hilarity, tragedy and more - so tremendously, seldom has every film department come together to create something so unquestionably perfect that you can sit in complete awe from beginning to end.
Note-perfect, every single cast member delivers the goods here and ensures that every tonal change is landed so securely. While it is truly devastating that the film received so few acting nominations across the award season, it is (in a sad, sad way) understandable: you simply cannot separate this cast. Most ensembles have a few key players that stand out, but every member of the Parasite cast are working in such perfect harmony that it is completely impossible to name one actor or actress as the sole standout. Its historical SAG win, making them the first foreign-language ensemble to take the accolade, is so thoroughly deserved - this band of talent are individually extraordinary but even stronger as one body.
Films like Parasite are a rarity. It is surprising, unpredictable, funny, tragic, thoughtful and breathtaking. From the direction to the writing and the acting to the craft, it is as pitch-perfect as filmmaking comes, succeeding on every level imaginable and blowing every expectation out of the water. Parasite is, comfortably, one of the best films I have ever seen. It is one of the best films ever made.
Summary: There's no other way to say it: Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite is a masterpiece. A fully-fledged masterpiece. This IS the best picture of the year.