Movie reviews

기생충 (PARASITE)

Watchable. I found it engaging mostly because I expected an actual parasite to be discovered, possibly in someone's body. But there's no science fiction here. The title is metaphoric since director 봉준호 (Bong Joon Ho) returns to his usual topic: the class struggle. In a tongue-in-cheek scene a poor housekeeper's speech sounds like North Korean TV - you know from the tone it's fake. However, the twists of action are mostly unpredictable. And, though it's Korean-way brutal and exaggerated, some details are impressive, like a coffee cup in the car while driving or indications that the businessman's wife is a parasite. The plot is quite derivative though: Korean "아가씨" ("The Handmaiden") "万引き家族" ("Shoplifters") and "オーディション" ("Audition"), American "Us" and "The Inside Man" spring to mind. Also, the movie seems to carry references to earlier roles of the actors, especially 송강호 (Song Kang-Ho) as a chauffeur - earlier an equally shrewed taxi driver in "택시운전사" ("A Taxi Driver"). As for recent years' Korean hits, I preferred "버닝" ("Burning") in terms of originality and "택시운전사" ("A Taxi Driver") in the magnitude of shock.