Parasite - luckily - is a masterwork. Rarely upon watching a film is it so clear so quickly that such a description isn't an overstatement. Rarely does it become even more apparent the more one thinks about what one has seen. Parasite is the first non-English language film to win best picture at the Oscars. It is that rarest of rare things - the Academy getting it right.
At its simplest level Parasite is a deconstruction of the madness of our capitalist system. Through smart characterisation and story-telling, it rips apart the contradictions of class in that system by setting two families against each other. The Kims are poor. The Parks are wealthy. By the end of the first act the Kims have inveigled themselves into the Parks' lives by posing as various hired help. Mother Kim the housekeeper, father Kim the chauffeur, son Kim the teacher, daughter Kim the therapist. Are these lies created to prey on the upper-middle class fears of the Park family and quietly pocket their cash? Or perhaps they're the actions of smart entrepreneurial underdogs doing nothing less than spotting a market for society's latest panacea? Or neither? Or both? Capitalism much?
This story is rich enough in itself to merit your attention. However it is myriad of other details that turn this film into the masterwork it has already been lauded. Smart use of camerawork and set / setting convey visually the difference between the Kims and Parks. A character ascends and is blinded by the sun as he emerges into the golden pastures of the Parks' garden. The Kim family manifest as cockroaches under the Parks' furniture. The families' respective houses each have a window looking out on to a jarringly different view of the world. These and many, many others demonstrate an attention to detail in the creation of this film that elevates it far beyond its basic story. The apex of the first act is as flawless a sequence of cinematic storytelling as I have ever seen. The more I think about it, the more analysis I absorb of its visual breadth, the more I am in awe.
The film naturally asks us to consider the meaning of its title. Who or what is the parasite? The Kims naturally prey on the Parks, but then the Parks treat their help with inhuman disdain. Then there is the underclass, leaching from everyone else. The final message either condemns everyone or gives them all a pass as mere pawns in capitalism's great never-ending game. In years to come A-Level film studies students will write essays on this exact question - and it feels an honour to have been there when it first came out. Parasite is a masterpiece.
