Parasite (Gisaengchung)

Released: May 21, 2019

Studio: CJ Entertainment

Genre: foreign/thriller

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 53.40 Worldwide: 258.70

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: Bong Joon-ho

Screenwriting: Bong Joon-ho

Starring: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin

Review:

The South Korean black comedy Parasite tells the story of the Kims, a poor family who scheme and hide their true identities to land jobs with the wealthy Parks family. When the Parks are away on a trip, the Kims “revel in the luxuries of the house” ^WK and discover a secret bunker unknown even to the Parks family. It’s all part of an intricate story that takes unexpected twists and turns while offering “tense and unnerving commentary on social class and the disparity between the rich and the poor.” ^CM

Director Bong Joon-ho co-wrote the script with Han Jin-won. Bong previously wrote a script for a play in 2013 based on his experience as a tutor for a wealthy family in Seoul. ^WK Bong cited The Housemaid, a 1960 Korean film about a middle-class family being disrupted by household help, as an influence. ^WK He also cited the story of Christine and Léa Papin, ^WK two French sisters who worked as live-in maids that murdered their employer’s wife and daughter in 1933.

Bong explained the title of the film, saying, “Because the story is about the poor family infiltrating and creeping into the rich house, it seems very obvious that Parasite refers to the poor family…But if you look at it the other way, you can say that rich family, they’re also parasites in terms of labor. They can’t even wash dishes, they can’t drive themselves, so they leech off the poor family’s labor. So both are parasites.” ^WK

“Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece takes the viewer on a visceral rollercoaster full of twists and genuinely shocking developments throughout its suspenseful narrative. The amazing direction coupled with extremely empathetic performances helped make this film.” ^CM It is notable that this was the first foreign language film to win the Oscar for Best Picture.