Parasite. (15.)
Directed by Bong Joon-ho.
Starring Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Woo-sik Choi, Hyae Jin Chang, So-dam Park. In Korean with subtitles. 132 mins.
Last year's Palm Door winner arrives in our cinemas 9 months after its triumph, which is actually pretty swift for a subtitled Cannes victor. Even so, I managed to walk into see this entirely untainted: I knew who directed it, its nationality and that it was a big deal, but nothing else. Going in knowing nothing is always a good thing but is often an empty victory; if can go into see a Tim Burton or Tarantino film with no pre-knowledge, but you still have a pretty good idea of what you're going to get.
Bong Joon-ho though is a director who seems to reinvent himself every time he makes a film. He jumps from serial killer thriller (Memories of A Murder), to monster movie (The Host), to big train dystopian sci-fi (Snowpiercer) to hybrid pieces like Okja or Mother. But what is really impressive is that he doesn't have a set look or style. Most name director will have a series of “tells” to tip you off that this is their unique vision, but there's hardly anything in Parasite that could link it to any of his other films, other than it stars his favourite leading man, Kang-ho Song.
Parasite is a clean slate: a film that isn't revolutionary but isn't quite like anything you've seen before. It is unclassifiable but accessible; deeply serious yet terrifically entertaining; gripping and tense but also very funny. If you really must have some kind of classification it could be described as a socio-political property porn allegory.
It's about a poor family and a very nice house, and the efforts of the poor family to get access to that house and that lifestyle. When we first meet them the family are all unemployed sitting around in their basement home trying to scrounge free wi-fi. And more than that I really cannot say because this is a film with numerous twists and turns, none of which you see coming but once they have arrived never seem unreasonable or overdone. And yes you are probably sick of hearing about how great it is but this might be the one time when the hype is justified.
Directed by Bong Joon-ho.
Starring Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Woo-sik Choi, Hyae Jin Chang, So-dam Park. In Korean with subtitles. 132 mins.
Last year's Palm Door winner arrives in our cinemas 9 months after its triumph, which is actually pretty swift for a subtitled Cannes victor. Even so, I managed to walk into see this entirely untainted: I knew who directed it, its nationality and that it was a big deal, but nothing else. Going in knowing nothing is always a good thing but is often an empty victory; if can go into see a Tim Burton or Tarantino film with no pre-knowledge, but you still have a pretty good idea of what you're going to get.
Bong Joon-ho though is a director who seems to reinvent himself every time he makes a film. He jumps from serial killer thriller (Memories of A Murder), to monster movie (The Host), to big train dystopian sci-fi (Snowpiercer) to hybrid pieces like Okja or Mother. But what is really impressive is that he doesn't have a set look or style. Most name director will have a series of “tells” to tip you off that this is their unique vision, but there's hardly anything in Parasite that could link it to any of his other films, other than it stars his favourite leading man, Kang-ho Song.
Parasite is a clean slate: a film that isn't revolutionary but isn't quite like anything you've seen before. It is unclassifiable but accessible; deeply serious yet terrifically entertaining; gripping and tense but also very funny. If you really must have some kind of classification it could be described as a socio-political property porn allegory.
It's about a poor family and a very nice house, and the efforts of the poor family to get access to that house and that lifestyle. When we first meet them the family are all unemployed sitting around in their basement home trying to scrounge free wi-fi. And more than that I really cannot say because this is a film with numerous twists and turns, none of which you see coming but once they have arrived never seem unreasonable or overdone. And yes you are probably sick of hearing about how great it is but this might be the one time when the hype is justified.
