Parasite

🔥 3rd Watch | Top 100 | 2019 Ranked Previously the highest rated movie on this site, Parasite is a film that most people are not unfamiliar with. This is my third time watching Parasite and each viewing has been just as rewarding, if not more rewarding, than the last. On my first viewing of the film, I came into the film completely blind. At first, I had no idea that Parasite was a Korean film. At first, I had actually thought that Parasite was a venom film. Nonetheless, I was a little confused during the first five minutes of that initial watch, but once the film started to delve into the story, I was so glad that I was wrong. It had become one of my favorite films. And when I rewatched Parasite, its brilliance still filled me with wonder. And now, for my third watch, not only does its mastery impress me, but even after having watched multiple video essays about this film and having watched this film a few times already, there were a lot of details about the film that made me fall in love with it even more. Parasite's screenplay is one of the best of all time. My favorite script of all time is Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network for obvious reasons, but Parasite is not far behind. One of my favorite aspects about the film is its use of foreshadowing. I'm sure that most people were able to catch details such as the cockroach dialogue scene. However, there were so many other scenes that use subtle dialogue to hint about upcoming events. For example, at one point Yeon Kyo (the mother of the Park family) says "she knows this house better than me." In this quote, "she" refers to the Moon Gwang, the housekeeper from the beginning of the film. Later in the film, it is revealed that there is a secret bunker that Moon Gwang knew all along. She did know the house better than the Park family. It was a very subtle, but very clever, use of foreshadowing. With another example, at the mansion, Kim says, "Let's go home. Let's take a bath." This quote may not seem significant at first, but then you may remember that shortly after Kim and his two children evade to their home, only for it to be flooded with sewage water. The "bath" that Kim spoke of earlier was actually the flood. These are just two of the countless examples of clever uses of foreshadowing in Parasite, and the foreshadowing was just a mere fraction of the screenplay's exceptional quality. Parasite is a film about the major gap between classes, and it is achieved through the juxtaposition of the Park family and the Kim family. Most people have probably watched a few video essays of Parasite and understand how the class difference is visually represented by the height difference of their homes. Park's family rests upon the top of a hill, representing their power over the rest of the citizens. Kim's family on the contrary lives in a semi-basement that has an elevation below the road-level, which represents their lack of power. In addition, during the huge plot twist, when we finally learn more about Moon Gwang's character and where her husband has resided for the past four years, we see her running down a hidden cellar. During this tense moment halfway through the film, we learn that Moon Gwang and her husband are just like the Kim family: a desperate family trying to use the Park family's wealth to benefit themselves (like a parasite). These are details that nearly everyone probably knows about the film, but there are so many other details using this same principle. Does the bathroom in the Kim semi-basement feel a little strange? Why is the toilet elevated from the rest of flooring? The film starts out with Ki Woo and Ki Jung desperately looking for a Wi-Fi spot that they could connect to. In the film, the Wi-Fi is used to watch videos about how to correctly perform a job duty that will get them paid. Obtaining money leads to opportunity, and opportunities are often associated with success. Therefore, Parasite uses Wi-Fi to represent success, or power. The toilet seat is the only spot with available Wi-Fi, so the toilet seat being elevated from the rest of the house symbolizes its power. In other words, the toilet in Parasite is another place in the film where the difference of elevation symbolizes power. This is just a tiny detail in a film so rich with nuanced symbolism. However, it is these details that make films such as Parasite so beautiful and masterful. The fact that a simple toilet can have so much depth in a story is why Parasite was the highest ranked film on Letterboxd for a long time. Speaking of the average Letterboxd Top 250 ranking, it's been some time since Come and See has dethroned Parasite as the highest rated movie on the website. I do have a few friends who absolutely despise Come and See, but I adore both of the two films. However, as much as Come and See disturbed me, I can't deny that Parasite is the better film and, in my opinion, deserves to have stayed in its prior position. Parasite is one of the "smartest" films I've ever seen, with every tiny inconspicuous detail having some relevance to the story. As I have discussed earlier, Parasite has one of the greatest screenplays of all time. However, there are so many more elements of this Bong Joon-Ho masterpiece that I haven't mentioned yet. One of those elements is Bong Joon-Ho himself. He went all out for this film. He took a very high level of precision when making Parasite. The house was designed from scratch so it could compliment the story that Parasite was trying to tell. Every shot was storyboarded and painted so Bong Joon-Ho could develop a clear visual and idea on what he wanted. He displayed keen direction, as all of his creative decisions turned out to be amazing choices. Parasite was one of the most sophisticated movies I have ever seen, and that is largely thanks to Bong Joon-Ho. Bong Joon-Ho was so attentive that he was willing to spend a large amount on a trash can just because of how smooth it moved. Even though Boon Joon-Ho isn't listed as the editor, it is clear that Bong Joon-Ho had a sharp influence on every aspect of the film, including the remarkable editing. Without Bong Joon-Ho, Parasite wouldn't have just been a worse film, but it likely wouldn't have existed at all. He created such a magnificent job, and though I don't wish to discredit any of the actors, the cinematographer, the editor, and others, one cannot deny the brilliance of Bong Joon-Ho. In summary, everything about Parasite is perfect. Each actor gives a magnificent performance. There wasn't one character who I thought was poorly or even mediocrely portrayed. It's a crime that Parasite didn't get any Oscar nominations for acting. I would've rather had Parasite be the first predominately Asian film to have many actors win Oscars rather than Everything Everywhere All At Once. The performances in Parasite were leagues above anything in that film. Furthermore, the soundtrack in Parasite put me in awe. Most people remember the soundtrack for the track playing during the "belt of trust" scene, but the score was fantastic in so many more places. In addition, the cinematography in Parasite was marvelous too. From how it panned downwards in the opening frame to the numerous tracking shots, Parasite's cinematography was one of the best parts about the film. I would go as far to say that its cinematography was better than 1917's. A huge reason why 1917 won was because the Academy loves profound cinematography; 1917's cinematography was definitely profound and flashy. In addition to everything else I have said including a lot more that I haven't mentioned, it's easy to see that Parasite is one of the best films of all time. In fact, I have Parasite as objectively the third best film of all-time, only narrowly behind 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Godfather: Part II. Although I tried to give Parasite a great review, no amount of writing can give this film justice. Parasite is a film containing so much depth and subtext, but I know that I have just cracked the surface on the intricacies of Parasite. ⬅️ Previous Review: The Big Lebowski