'Parasite' A Review

Parasite is a satirical thriller about a poor family of four(The Kims) living in a garden apartment that infiltrates the staff of a wealthy family(The Parks) at first through a quasi-honest referral, then fraud, then sabotage. Once the Kims have replaced the entire staff they relax in their newfound ease. When the Parks for a camping trip however the Kims security is threatened with a shocking revelation.

The cast is adequate with Park So-dam as Kim Ki-jung giving the performance with the most texture but for the most all the Parks and the Kims are playing thinly drawn caricatures rather than real people. Much is unclear about anyone's motivations and some transparently stupid choices are made not driven by character but the necessities of the plot. Even after the two hours and change run time it is unclear who any of these people actually are. And perhaps that's the point, they are ciphers, puppets, for this very particular, very tight narrative.

As is no surprise with writer/director Bong Joon-ho the film has a sharp magnetism and visual clarity. The belated twist and the chaotic third act are electric but what proceeds it implys and infers a socio-economic message that the story simply doesn't convey. Or perhaps it does convey it in such a straightforward deadening way with characters, both rich and poor, that are so thoroughly flat and uncompelling that the point is rendered ineffectual. There are some wonderful ideas in the film but the humanity of it's participants isn't particularly considered and as such whatever allegorical intent lies behind the story it doesn't really succeed. There's an inevitable comparison to last years more soulful and successful Shoplifters which Parasite simply doesn't measure up to.

Ambitious, interesting, immaculately crafted but ultimately short on that most necessary cinematic component- emotion.

See It.