Watching: PARASITE

Year: 2019
Rating: R
Director: Bong Joon-ho
I purposefully went into watching Parasite knowing as little as possible about the film, beyond the trailer, and would heartily advise the same to anyone else wanting to see it. Deserving of the hype and accolades? Of being labeled one of the Best Films of the past Decade, let alone 2019? Absolutely. It would appear that, after directing visual and cerebral stunners like Mother, The Host, Snowpiercer, and Okja, (that last one I still have yet to see), Bong Joon-ho has directed his masterpiece. Parasite follows the Kim family - father, mother, and their grown daughter and son - all of whom are unemployed and living in a tiny, rundown lower-level apartment in Korea, subsisting on government aid. When the son, Ki-woo, is offered a job tutoring a high school girl from a rich family, we meet the Parks - father, mother, teenaged daughter and young son - and within a very short time the Kim family ingratiates themselves with the Parks when each takes a job within the household while pretending to no even know each other, let alone admit they are related. But the Kims don't just take over the open positions of driver, therapist, housekeeper, etc.; no, they hatch elaborate plans to first get the people already in these positions at the Park household fired, then finagle their way in as the replacement. That's how without conscience the Kims are, even as somehow - and this is part of Bong Joon-ho's genius - you still root for them to get away with it, if nothing else than maybe in the way the poor always want to stick it to the one-percent. Things, in fact, seem to be going quite well for the Kims, who celebrate in the Park home one evening after the family has gone out of town camping about an hour into the film ... until a genuine "WTF" incident happens that turns both the film and the Kims cushy situation absolutely on its head, the rest of the film a suspenseful, darkly-funny potential train wreck you won't be able to take your eyes from. Parasite is perfectly cast, and directed with Bong's signature artistic edge (you can tell Kubrick was an influence) that makes simple shadows chilling or a sarcastic line said during the tensest moment downright hilarious. It's a film that needs to be seen more than once to pick up everything, visually and stylistically, the filmmakers imbued each line and image with, and it's certainly a film that must be seen without distraction of food or bathroom breaks or anyone talking in your ear; you have to pay attention to this one. For this reason I don't know, how this South Korean gem may work on middle-American audiences, but anyone missing Parasite is missing an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind treat that's also a masterclass in filmmaking.  10/10 stars