Parasite

The 92nd Academy Awards is presented on Sunday, 2-9-20, so sense the Oscar nominated film, "Parasite" has been re-released prior to the awards, I thought I should see it since its release date was back in November, and I'm sure glad I did. This was the epidome of a severe societal class war if I've ever seen one. "Crazy Rich Asians" definitely involved differences of class, however this takes that premise to a darker side with a dry underlying humorous way about it.

Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family: rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims, headed by husband, Ki-taek (Song Kang Ho) and wife, Chung-sook (Chang Hyae Jin) sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children, Ki-woo (Choi Woo Shik) and Ki-jung (Park So Dam) expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist respectively, to the Parks, namely Dong-ik (Lee Sun Keon) and wife, Yeon-kyo (Cho Yeo Jeong). Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. The Kims provide "indispensible" luxury services while the Parks obliviously bankroll their entire household. When a parasitic interloper threatens the Kims' newfound comfort, a savage, underhanded battle for dominance breaks out, threatening to destroy the fragile ecosystem between the Kims and the Parks. 

Others to round out the cast are Lee Jung Eun as Moon-gwang, the housekeeper, Jung Ziso as Park Da-hye, Park Myeong-hoon as Geun-se and Park Seo-joon as Min, a friend of Ki-woo. 

This was delineated incredibly well by director Boon Joon Ho ("Barking Dogs Never Bite" 2000, "Memories of Murder" '03, "The Host" '06, "Mother" '09, "Snowpiercer" '13, "Okja" '17) plus shorts. These characters simply came alive especially the Kim family and seemed real  as opposed to just acting, and this is talented directing. It is no surprise That this filmmaker is nominated for his direction. It was cleverly written by Bong Joon Ho ("Motel Cactus" '97, "Phantom: The Submarine" '99, "Antarctic Journal" '05, "Tokyo!" '08, "Sea Fog" '14) plus shorts and the aforementioned list and Jin Won Han, based on a story by Boon Joon Ho. Even though there is a clever concept to this story, it subsequently takes a dark turn and without getting into a spoiler alert, causes both families, specifically the Kim family to have to unravel their lives as they are spiraling down the drain without any hope of recovery. Although this screenplay is concise and cohesive, there are things in this that either couldn't happen or that most people would never do to make those places in script plausible. But this is certainly a story that really begs the 'what goes around, comes around' concept. In any rate, these small blemishes certainly do not detract from the storyline and what the writers were attempting to convey to their audience. Boon Joon Ho certainly has the lion's share of the writing, however I'm sure Jin Won Han's ideas were pivotal, especially being the script supervisor of the film and one of its assistant directors. 

Not everyone is interested in foreign or international films, but this story is so compelling that having to read the subtitles is a small price to pay in order to being able to sink your teeth into this film. It will undoubtedly win best international film come Oscar night deservedly so.

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                        Rated: R                                               132mins.