Directed by:
Joon-ho BongCinematography:
Kyung-pyo HongComposer:
Jae-il JungCast:
Kang-ho Song, Sun-kyun Lee, Yeo-jeong Jo, Hye-jin Jang, Woo-shik Choi, So-dam Park, Seung-min Hyeon, Hyun-jun Jung, Myeong-hoon Park, Keun-rok Park (more)VOD (2)
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A zeitgeist-defining sensation that distilled a global reckoning over class inequality into a tour de force of pop-cinema subversion, Bong Joon Ho’s genre-scrambling black-comic thriller confirms his status as one of the world’s foremost filmmakers. Two families in Seoul—one barely scraping by in a dank semibasement in a low-lying neighborhood, the other living in luxury in a modern architectural marvel overlooking the city—find themselves on a collision course that will lay bare the dark contradictions of capitalism with shocking ferocity. A bravura showcase for its director’s meticulously constructed set pieces, bolstered by a brilliant ensemble cast and stunning production design, Parasite cemented the New Korean Cinema as a full-fledged international force when it swept almost every major prize from Cannes to the Academy Awards, where it made history as the first non-English-language film to win the Oscar for best picture. (Criterion)
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Reviews (23)
Basically, without objections. Very viewer-friendly, very entertaining, but also very bold and relevant. Exactly the type of film that makes me like films, while also proof that entertainment and art aren’t opposites. It’s so perfect that it couldn’t be ignored even by the jury at Cannes, who mostly overrate other types of films. #KVIFF2019
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Unfortunately I can't go with the flow. I totally acknowledge that the film is well made. The cinematography was for me the best part of the whole movie. But the rest of it... tone deaf? Because I didn't find it funny. I don't like it when people get tricked like that, and here it escalated to unfortunate heights for my taste. Not to mention the ending, which was to be expected from a certain point on. I don't think it was anything innovative. I don't think it deserves so much attention, but the film obviously came at the right time in the right place. Mostly I also thought it was too long. It didn't feel like 132 minutes, it felt like three days. I guess I need to establish some sort of rapport with the characters, I need someone to at least be likeable; it didn't happen here. I couldn't even sympathize with them, nothing. Cold. Maybe it was meant to be, in which case it's a completely unsatisfying film for me. Great cinematography, good cast, but a totally cranky Ziza.
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Bong’s brilliance consists in the fact that he is able to approach a complexly caustic and, at the same time, excruciatingly empathetic image of society as an extremely rewarding film that draws the audience in with a suspensefully initiated and superbly escalating premise. And above that, it elicits amazement through its precise directing and the sophisticated staging and camerawork of the individual sequences.
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In Parasite, the South Koreans twist human emotions and create a premise just as absurd and obscure as when Rammstein were singing about that Austrian guy who kidnapped Natascha Kampusch and held her in his cellar for more than ten years. Moreover, they do it with dangerously dark humor, which I don’t even know whether it’s funny at all, because it makes me gape at the screen rather than laugh. In the context of South Korean cinematography, however, this is a unique gem that has no match.
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The cult Czech one-liner "Don't be angry that I'm bothering you again, but I forgot to ask if you have a cellar. Do you have a cellar? And could I see it?" elaborated in the form of a feature film consisting in (by far not only) a thriller mixed with a black-humor class satire in which you never know what you can believe as a spectator. This could have easily ended up as an embarrassing mishmash (and this has happened to Bong Joon-Ho in the past), but it resulted in a scathing masterpiece that give the South Korean wave a second wind. Second wind? This is not a simple revival, but a full-fledged comeback in several respects.
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Photo © CJ Entertainment
![Parasite - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/163/740/163740988_d7de1e.jpg)
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