Parasite

Unlike other recent movies I've watched in my quest to see all the Best Picture winners, I had no preconceived notions or expectations about Parasite. In fact, I knew almost nothing about it aside it being South Korean. I don't know if this helped my experience, or Parasite is just a really good movie, but I'm hoping this reverses the trend and these movies start justifying their place in cinematic history. Parasite is about two families, the Kims and the Parks. The Kim family live in poverty, living in a basement in a back alley, doing odd jobs to barely cover their bills. Ki-Woo, a college-aged young man, is recommended to the Park family to take over as an English tutor for their daughter. Seeing a way out of poverty, Ki-Woo schemes with his sister and parents to land them all jobs with the family; sister Ki-jung becomes the art tutor to the Parks' younger son, Ki-taek becomes the Park family chauffeur, and Chung-sook becomes the housekeeper. Landing these jobs requires lying and getting other people fired, nice people who did nothing wrong other than be in the way of the Kim family's ambition of escaping poverty. Parasite is, obviously, a movie deeply rooted in analyzing class structure, class warfare, and morality. The Parks live in a palatial house behind a security fence, designed by a renowned architect, although the house looks less like a home and more like a museum or a professional building. The house also sits on a hill, reinforcing the symbolism of the Parks being up above, while the Kims are down below in a ramshackle basement in a dirty alley. Even though they're within relative walking distance of one another, the implication of two different worlds couldn't be more distinct. The Parks not only are haves, they live in the comfort of never having to worry. The Kims only have worry; where the next meal will come from, can they leech wi-fi from the upstairs neighbor to use their phones, will a bum urinate through their window. But therein lies the trick of Parasite. The Parks are not presented as morally corrupt, self-centered, rotten people. Choi Yeon-gyo, the Park family mother, loves her children dearly and wants to see them succeed in life. Because a camping trip gets rained out, she decides to go all out on a birthday for her young son, sparing no expense, and telling all guests to come and enjoy the food and fun and explicitly not to bring presents. Because she has the means, she spares no expense in making sure her kids get what they need to succeed in life; tutors for classes, therapy to bring their wild and weird son down to Earth, a fantastic housekeeper and cook to help keep their home beautiful. The Kims, meanwhile, have built their relationships with the Parks on a Jenga tower of lies, but they are take their jobs seriously (well, except daughter Ki-jung, who bullshits her way through "therapy" with whatever she could find on Google). They are trying to better themselves and their station in life, but through a deceitful way. In a way, both families are the titular organism; the Parks' have an idyllic life that it is bettered by the labor of the Kims. Meanwhile, the Kims use the arrangements with the Parks to attempt to better their station. Parasite doesn't say one is better than the other. It doesn't even ask the viewer to weigh doing the wrong thing for the right reasons is better than the right thing for the wrong reasons. It presents a situation, layers it in enough gallows humor to be satirical but just close enough to reality to sting, and says "this is our world". All of the acting is excellent here -- there's not a bad performance in the bunch -- but there were three stand-outs for me. The first is Park So-dam, who plays Kim Ki-jung; whereas the other members of the Kim family are liars, they at least commit themselves to doing a good job and feel fortunate to have this in-road to potentially pulling themselves up. Kim Ki-jung, by contrast, is a callous, careless, foul-mouthed, amoral schemer. In a movie where most everyone is north of True Neutral, Kim Ki-jung is Chaotic Neutral, a force unto herself, contributing to the family's scheme but only because it benefits herself. Park So-dam's performance is electric, bringing a wild, selfish, malevolent energy to the role. Cho Yeo-jeong plays Choi Yeon-gyo, the Park family mother. She imbues the role with a kind, if a tad naive, motherly sweetness to her; she is fully dedicated to providing the best for her kids, and doesn't look down or or take for granted the extra care she's brought in to do so. And then there's Song Kang-ho, the Kim family father Kim Ki-taek; as the movie progresses, Kim Ki-taek begins to resent his position and the Parks. Song Kang-ho's transition from a dutiful, determined family man to a quiet, simmering cauldron of anger is wonderfully slow burn, and he plays it perfectly. Since this was watched as part of my quest to see all the Best Picture winners, the question must be asked: do I think it deserved the honor? And the answer is ... I can see why it won, but I wouldn't have picked it. It is shot with elegance and care, acted impeccably, and portrays its themes with a deft hand. It is the kind of movie the Academy loves, but it also never feels like Oscar bait in the way something like Crash does. I just wouldn't have picked it for that year because there are other movies I enjoyed more. I think the criminally underseen and under-discussed Rose Plays Julie is more gripping and even better acted. I think The Lighthouse is more riveting and bold. Even if we keep it to movies that were nominated, I enjoyed Jojo Rabbit more. But I'm not mad this won. I don't know that it deserved it, but I think it earned it. And I'd definitely recommend seeing it.