What is ‘Parasite’ and Should You Watch It?
At the Acadamy Awards on Sunday (February 9) a movie called Parasite won Best Picture of the year, and the film's director, Bong Joon-ho, won Best Director. The movie also won Best Orginal Screenplay.
But, what is this movie? Chances are most people haven't seen previews for it, or commercials, or any promotions. To the average moviegoer, it may seem like some small, arthouse film that came out of nowhere.
But, I am here to tell you, that this movie is AWESOME! It is tremendous storytelling. It has everything you want in a great movie; action; comedy; great twists and turns and perfect structure. It is one of my favorite movies of 2019, along with Endgame and Captian Marvel.
And on a personal aside, I think Endgame really should have won the Best Picture trophy. The Marvel Cinematic Univers is a true triumph of filmmaking, and Endgame topped near perfection with perfection. All those elements of story and special effects were put together in a way that dwarfs most other achievements in film over the last decade. But, that's just me, I'm still super happy that Parasite won, it is incredibly fun.
Parasite is a black comedy with a dash of a thriller. It's about a poor family that finds a unique opportunity with a rich family, and the unusual world they find themselves in. It's not a quirky Twin Peaks type of film, with weird unworldly characters and events. It's very grounded in the real world. No magic, no superheroes, just...well I can't really say too much more. Half the fun is going on the journey with the folks in the movie. Watch the trailer above
The movie is a Korean production, starring Korean actors and set in Korea. The movie is in Korean, with subtitles. If you don't watch a lot of subtitles movies or TV shows, it may take a minute to adjust.
But I gotta tell ya, give your brain that minute, it is worth it. The language may be different, but the emotions, the drive, the world is familiar to anyone that has struggled and dreamed of a better life.
The director, Bong Joon-ho, is one of the most exciting filmmakers coming up today. I also highly recommend another of his films, this one in English and staring Captian America, um, I mean Chris Evens. It's called Snowpeicer. It's a post-apocalyptic movie set on a train in a frozen world. It is fantastic.
There's a reason that this movie won big at this year's Oscars, and it is really worth checking out.