S32
THE ENVELOPE LOS ANGELES TIMES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019
I
t was somewhere
around the third
pint of a perfectly
named IPA called
Bong Joon-hops that
the conviction
began to take hold,
faint at first, but
growing firmer with
each sip.
“Parasite” could win the best
picture Oscar this year.
Or it might not win any Os-
cars this year. I don’t know. As I
mentioned, I was on my third
pint and, sitting in the bar of the
Alamo Drafthouse Downtown, it
was hard to differentiate between
delusion and the conviction that I
might be on to something.
Now, I know what you’re
thinking. South Korea has never
even had a movie nominated for
foreign-language feature (a cate-
gory the motion picture academy
renamed “international feature”
this year), much less best picture,
so how many beers does it take to
think that “Parasite,” a dark social
satire from the great Korean
filmmaker (and brewing muse)
Bong Joon Ho, could pull down a
passel of nominations?
Answer: Zero.
Or, depending on how dimly
you view the academy’s taste, an
entire keg.
But now is not the time for
pessimism. We’re at the beginning
of awards season, an open land-
scape full of possibility and in-fused with optimism. Lay down
your weary tune from last year.
And I don’t mean “Shallow” from
“A Star Is Born,” because that song
will be forever fresh. I’m talking
about whatever burdens you
might be carrying from last year’s
Oscars. I’m not going to get into
specifics. Those battles were
fought and, in some cases, lost.
This is a new day.
Also, to be clear: I’m not talk-
ing about blind enthusiasm here,
though if you believe in your
heart of hearts that “Cats” can
rum-tum-tugger its way into the
hearts of Oscar voters, you do
you. Who knows? Maybe Mr.
Mistoffelees can cast some kind
of collective spell on the acade-
my.
But “Parasite” has the creden-
tials, friends. It won the Palme
d’Or at Cannes, besting Quentin
Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time ...
in Hollywood.” It was a summer
blockbuster in South Korea,
grossing more than $70 million,
and it broke box office records
here when it opened in limited
release earlier this month.
Why the fuss?
“Parasite” taps into the divide
between the haves and have-nots,
a chasm present the world over
and one that is particularly pro-
nounced in Bong’s native country.
It follows the Kim family, a quar-
tet of adults living in a basement,
eking out a living by assembling
pizza boxes. Opportunity pre-sents itself when the son begins a
tutoring job for the wealthy Park
family. Soon, the Kims infiltrate
the lives of the pampered Parks in
a manner that’s presented, ini-
tially, with sly humor and dry
wit.
As the stakes heighten, though,
the laughter turns scathing and
the tone becomes unsettling and
terrifying. You’re never sure
where the story’s heading, and
when it finally lands, the ending
will leave you gutted.
Bong is adept at mixing genre
thrills, visual artistry and pointed
commentary, a command that’s
on display in “Parasite” as well as
the five movies that preceded it
— “Okja,” “Snowpiercer,”
“Mother,” “The Host” and “Mem-
ories of Murder.” Perhaps the
cumulative power of that incred-
ible run is why American movie-
goers are catching up to him now.
Maybe it’s simply because “Para-
site” is so damn good.
The problem with “Parasite”
and the Oscars begins with the
fact that there is a separate cate-
gory for international film, a
division that may have been the
primary reason “Roma” lost the
best picture Oscar to “Green
Book” in February. Why reward
the same movie twice, the think-
ing goes.
“Roma” did win two other
Oscars last year — both going to
Alfonso Cuarón for directing and
cinematography. And voters also“PARASITE’S”Woo Sik Choi,
from left, Kang Ho Song, Lee
Jeong Eun and Kim So Dam.THE GOLD STANDARDBY GLENN WHIPP
Oscar voters should take a page
from the beer world and salute
visionary Bong Joon Ho for the
masterful, twisty thrills of his
art-house smash ‘Parasite’
Tap into
a winner