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Bong Joon-ho is no stranger to using genre storytelling as sociopolitical allegory. And with Parasite, the South Korean auteur adds to his already impressive repertoire — a list of films that includes such modern classics as Okja, Snowpiercer and The Host. A tale about South Korea's class divide, the story follows two families from opposite walks of life. At one end, we have Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho), his wife Chung-sook (Chang Hyae-jin) and their two children, Ki-jung (Park So-dam) and Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik), who spend their days folding pizza boxes in their basement apartment for chump change. And at the other, we have the Park family, a wealthy foursome who live in a luxury home designed by an award-winning architect, complete with a live-in maid (Lee Jeong-eun). But when Ki-woo gets a job tutoring the Parks' teenage daughter Da-hye (Jung Ziso), it sets into motion a series of bizarre events that irrevocably entangle the two families' fates. Darkly funny and unmistakably chilling, Parasite is a must-see for fans of South Korean cinema — but it's hybrid of black comedy and violent thriller is so utterly mesmerizing that it crosses language barriers. |
Parasite makes its Canadian premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Its runtime is 2 hrs. 11 min.
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