Parasite the Movie

Parasite the Movie

by Jim Jackson

November 11, 2019

Parasite is one of those movies where you run the gamut of the filmmaking genres.  If you take Mel Brooks (High Anxiety), Alfred Hitchcock (Vertigo), Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas), and Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather) and threw them into a large sack, the movie Parasite may be the outcome.  

Above, the struggling Kim family finds work assembling pizza boxes

Before I go on, let me preface this by saying that Parasite is a South Korean film with subtitles. Let me further state that even though it has subtitles, it is easy to follow and that it runs the gamut of a Mel Brooks comedy, an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, the emotion of Wim Wenders and Coppola's malevolent aspect of human society. 

When you watch the movie, at the start you think you must be watching a comedy but very quickly it turns to a sense of rich versus poor and the plight of those who struggle to survive in what can only be described as hell on Earth.  And then the plot gets twisted, which it tends to do many more times throughout the film.  Just when you think you have it figured out and you think you know what will happen next, the plot takes another turn.

This acclaimed film, by Bong Joon Ho, will arouse you, make you laugh, cry, gasp, cringe, and leave you shaking your head.  And as you watch the movie, you soon find yourself forgetting that there are English subtitles (I only found one wrong spelling: tail instead of tale).  But that's being rather picky.  

Above, is the international poster for Parasite showing the prestigious recognition for winning the Palme d'Or, the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival.

Above, is an announcement of Parasite winning the Best Film at the 2019 Sydney Film Festival.

With my eclectic taste in films, I rarely read or listen to the so-called movie experts.  I consider myself educated enough to make up my own mind on what films I like and which ones I want to avoid.  I am somewhat frugal so I tend to avoid spending my money on films that I wind up regretting the wasting of my money.  There have been several times when I have taken a long international flight that offered the chance to see many films.  On many of those occasions, I was thankful that I was watching them for free and that I had not spent money to watch them.  And for that purpose, I will not reveal any more about the film Parasite.  The reader can choose to research more or less.

Above, is the cast of Parasite at yet another of the many award ceremonies that the film was given.  The film had a budget of roughly $11 million dollars. 

As of 10 November 2019, Parasite has grossed $11.3 million alone in the United States and Canada, and $101.7 million in other territories (including $71 million from South Korea), for a worldwide total of $113 million.

The film grossed US$20.7 million on its opening weekend in its home country of South Korea.

For our screening of the film Parasite, we chose the wonderful Tower Theater in Sacramento.  This is the same venue where the historic Tower Records got its start.  It's an old theater, old-fashioned really, but intimate in a good way.  It's small but you also feel like you are watching a film in your own living room but with a larger screen.

I mentioned that I would not reveal any of the details of the movie, but I will say that there are a few obscenities in the interpreted subtitles, and there is a mild sex scene, so you may not want to bring the little kiddies.  And there is some violence, some pretty intense that grandma and grandpa may not be too keen on.  

I Photoshopped bars over our eyes to match that of the actors in the giant lobby poster. 

Although I am still a bit puzzled as to why the eyes are shielded I do know that the white bars are over the eyes of the upper class and the black bars are over those of the lower class, except for us four on the outside.

So, as a very big fan of movies, especially good movies or movies that make you think, or simply do a good job of entertaining you, this movie hits the mark.  It was like watching a movie that was made by a clone of all of my favorite movie makers and it added another drop in the bucket of my favorite movies.

If you enjoyed this somewhat satirical movie, please like and share it!




Update:


On Sunday, February 9, 2020, the movie Parasite won several Academy Award Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film, and Best Original Screenplay!

Additional posters from the Parasite movie: