think you have Parasite all figured
out: it’s a dark comedy about grift-
ers using their wiles to get by, a
parable about forgotten members
of society who manage to squeeze
in through the back door—that
would have been a good enough
movie right there.
But Bong, the director of films
like Snowpiercer and Memories of
Murder, sails beyond good enough,
devising a twist upon a twist and
connecting one scene to the next
with ingenious precision. It’s im-
possible to figure out where Para-
site is headed.
Parasite won the top prize at
Cannes, and it’s South Korea’s
entry for the Best International
Feature Film Oscar. There are good
reasons why it’s poised to reso-
nate worldwide. It tells a story you
could probably follow without
subtitles, or any dialogue at all:
the faces of these actors show with
piercing clarity how it feels to be
outsiders in a world of wealth and
privilege. Yet Parasite is first and
foremost a family story, a reminder
of how much we have when we at
least have one another. •Because movies take so long
to make, they can’t always be as im-
mediately topical as television is.
But whether by sheer luck or keen
prescience, Bong Joon-ho’s Para-
site is the movie for right now. Kim
Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) and Chung-
sook (Jang Hye-jin) live with their
two teenagers in a small basement
apartment. Both parents are un-
employed, and the family picks up
odd jobs—like folding pizza boxes,
badly—to make ends meet. But
even if the Kims’ living conditions
are less than ideal, they’re opti-
mistic. In the opening scene, son
Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik) and daugh-
ter Ki-jung (Park So-dam) roam
through the cramped flat holding
their cell phones aloft in the search
of free wi-fi. They make it fun:
sometimes you can pull what you
need out of thin air.
The family’s luck changes when
Ki-woo lands a gig as a tutor to
a high school student, Da-hye
(Jung Ji-so), from a rich family, the
Parks. Before long, and by dishon-
est means, he gets every member
of his family employed in the Park
household. At this point, you mayMOVIES
A film for right now, from a master
By Stephanie ZacharekTimeOff ReviewsPARASITE: NEON; LANGE: GETTY IMAGES
The wealthy Park couple (Lee Sun-kyun and Jo Yeo-jeong)After eating a bowl with 2% milk,
at least half of adults had a lower desire
to eat than before breakfast for 3 1/2 hours.