MOVIE REVIEW: Parasite
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The list of films that are “like nothing you’ve seen before” gets longer with each passing year. However, it is unheard of for an international film to be so unique and thought-provoking to jump the nationality and language barrier in order to win the most coveted prize in North American cinema. The film in question – Parasite – presents as a part comedic, part tragic critique on class and establishment. It is ironic, therefore, that the Academy that awarded it the aforementioned Best Picture Oscar is the most establishment cinematic institution in existence.
We begin Parasite following a family of lovable con-artists living in a semi-basement, folding pizza boxes for meager cash, and stealing wi-fi from a nearby coffee shop. Through an unlikely connection with a rich family, a plan forms to solve all their monetary problems. The witty plot that ensues takes a left turn in the second half of the film, briefly passing through a quasi-horror stage before entering the meaty and deadly serious disparities of class and want. The tension doesn’t cease throughout. The plan that seemed so thorough and perfect in the first half of the picture threatens to fall apart at every turn, yet the conclusion is as unforeseeable as it is inevitable.
The writing feels both real and absurd, the soundtrack is dramatic yet playful, and the cinematography is uncomplicated but effective.
