[Movie] Parasite (2019) | One Family, One House, One Big Lie

_{Including spoilers; read at your own risk}

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Parasite is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller directed and written by Bong Joon-ho, with Han Jin-won as co-writer. The movie follows the Kim family, who are struggling to make money while living together in a small semi-basement apartment.

Things start to change when their son, Ki-woo, gets a chance to work as an English tutor for the wealthy Park family. Soon, one family slowly finds a way into the other family's house, but things become very different when they discover a secret hidden underneath it.

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My Take

I had heard about Parasite quite a lot before watching it. It won the Best Picture Oscar, and I had also seen many people talking about the movie. So I already knew it was supposed to be really good. But I didn't know exactly what kind of movie it was going to be. After watching it, I understood why people talked about it so much.

And now that I'm writing a review about this movie, I'm planning to watch it along with my wife soon cause I know she missed watching such a great concept.

At the beginning, I actually found the Kim family quite funny. They are poor, but they are clever and know how to manage things with very little money. When Ki-woo gets the tutoring job, the family starts making plans to get the other family members into the Park house too. Watching them slowly replace the workers was probably the funniest part of the movie for me.

But the movie changes a lot after they discover the hidden basement. Until that point, I was mostly watching it like a dark comedy. Then suddenly there was a completely different problem inside the house. The previous housekeeper's husband had been secretly living there for years, and nobody in the Park family knew about him.

The last part was crazy. The garden party starts normally, but after everything that happened in the basement, the situation gets completely out of control. Ki-taek finally loses control when Mr. Park reacts to the smell of the basement man. He stabs Mr. Park and then disappears. I wasn't expecting the movie to end that way at all.

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Outstanding Performance _{including spoilers}

One thing I really liked was how the Kim family entered the Park household one person at a time. Ki-woo becomes the English tutor first. Then he recommends Jessica, who is actually his sister Ki-jung, as an art teacher for the Park family's young son.

After that, they get the driver and housekeeper removed and replace them with their own father and mother. The whole plan was ridiculous but also very clever.

The rain scene was another important moment. The Park family goes camping, so the Kims decide to enjoy the huge house while they are away.

Then heavy rain comes and destroys the Kim family's semi-basement home. The next morning, Mrs. Park talks about how beautiful the weather is after the rain, while the Kim family is dealing with everything they lost. That difference between the two families was hard to miss.

Then comes the hidden basement. The new housekeeper discovers that her husband has been secretly living under the Park house because he owes money to loan sharks. The Kim family gets caught by them, and suddenly both families know each other's secrets. Things get even worse when the Parks unexpectedly return home.

The birthday party is where everything finally falls apart. The man from the basement comes out and attacks Ki-jung. She is badly injured, and Ki-taek tries to help her. When Mr. Park complains about the smell and treats the injured man like something disgusting, Ki-taek finally snaps. He takes a knife and kills Mr. Park before running away.

The ending was probably the saddest part for me. Ki-taek hides inside the same hidden basement where the other man had lived. His son Ki-woo later discovers that his father is alive and imagines a plan to become rich, buy the Park house and finally rescue him. But we are shown that this is only a dream. Ki-woo is still living in the same poor home, and there is no guarantee that his dream will ever happen.

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Casts & Characters

Kim Ki-taek played by Song Kang-ho.

Ki-taek is the father of the Kim family and has trouble finding stable work. He enjoys the better life he sees inside the Park house, but his anger toward the rich family slowly grows. He kills Mr. Park at the garden party and later hides inside the basement.

Chung-sook played by Jang Hye-jin.

Chung-sook is Ki-taek's wife and the mother of Ki-woo and Ki-jung. She is practical and quickly joins the family's plan to get jobs inside the Park house. She survives the events at the party, but the family loses almost everything.

Kim Ki-woo played by Choi Woo-shik.

Ki-woo is the son who gets the first opportunity to work for the Parks. He starts the whole plan by becoming their daughter's English tutor and later helps bring his family into the house. After the disaster, he becomes obsessed with the idea of buying the Park house and rescuing his father.

Kim Ki-jung played by Park So-dam.

Ki-jung is Ki-woo's sister and is very good at making up stories and pretending to be someone else. She becomes the art teacher for the Park family's young son. During the birthday party, she is stabbed by the man from the basement and dies from her injuries.

Park Dong-ik played by Lee Sun-kyun.

Mr. Park is the wealthy father of the Park family. He is polite on the surface but often makes comments about Ki-taek's smell and treats him as someone who should know his place. His reaction to the basement man's smell becomes the final thing that pushes Ki-taek over the edge.

Park Yeon-gyo played by Cho Yeo-jeong.

Mrs. Park is the mother of the family and hires the Kim family members without knowing who they really are. She is often shown as naive and easily influenced by the people around her. She survives the final chaos but loses her husband and most of the people working for her.

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Conclusion

Parasite is not just about a poor family trying to take advantage of a rich family. The movie shows how both families are trapped in their own way, even though their lives are completely different.

The Kims want money and a better life, while the Parks live comfortably without really understanding the problems around them. The hidden basement and the final violence make the class difference even clearer.

Ki-taek ends up hiding underground, while Ki-woo dreams about buying the house and getting him out. But the movie makes it pretty clear that this dream may never happen. That was probably the part that stayed with me after the movie ended.

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^{Photos of this post are collected from TMDB}

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"Be Good, Think Good and Do Good"