How do I talk about a movie that has won multiple awards, has received enormous praise, and has become a historic moment in cinema history?
Not to mention that the amount of discussion and dissection of this movie is never-ending. All I can really say about this movie at this point is that it’s deserving of all the hype that it’s enjoyed over the past few months.
In order to stay away from spoilers I’m going to be very vague when writing here. So, if someone were to ask what “Parasite” was about, I’d tell them that it is a film about a poor family that will do anything to not be poor anymore.
With that premise in mind here are a few questions that I’d love to ask either to the characters of “Parasite” or to the people who made the film itself.
To specific characters: Do you realize how gullible you’re being?
When you have all the money in the world it can be easy to trust anyone who offers their services to you. It can be a barber who offers to cut your hair for $100, which is a wild amount that should never be considered by a potential customer, hypothetically speaking.
In “Parasite”, The Kim family are looking to change their lives and sometimes running into a wealthy family can help in that endeavor. Does being rich make you trust everyone you meet? The Kim family sure seem to think so.
To Bong Joon-ho: How did you pull off different tones in one scene?
Bong Joon-ho has been at this director gig for about twenty years now and with credits like “Snowpiercer” and “Okja” on his resume, he’s become known for his adaptive directing style.
“Parasite” is another example of his mastery of tone-shifts. There’s a scene that occurs about half way through the film where we see The Kim’s at a strong moment in their journey. Things are looking good and the future is looking bright. Suddenly there’s the front door bell rings and with the chime comes an old friend. The scene takes an intense turn in a matter of seconds and it doesn’t take away from the film one bit. The reveal is actually quite jaw-dropping. I’ll just say that the wealth of the Park family is being shared three-fold during this scene.
To a specific character: Is it okay to sit on a flooding toilet ever?
Imagine that a monsoon is flooding the streets around you and the place that you call home. Imagine that you enter your home that is flooding as you try and recover everything you can before it’s too late.
Imagine going to the bathroom and opening the toilet to a geyser of sewage. Would you then force the toilet seat down and sit on said toilet as if it were completely clean? I feel like Bong Joon-ho wanted me to ask this question most of all as it embodies the themes of the film as a whole.
