This year’s Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival is a timely exploration of economic inequality and familial bonds—but because it’s crafted by genre-hopping writer-director Bong Joon-ho (
Snowpiercer), it’s also dazzlingly unpredictable, ranging with consummate skill from satirical to slapstick to sentimental.
Parasite tells the story of an impoverished family whose enterprising son Ki-woo becomes a tutor for a posh young woman. Quickly, he realizes he can trick this wealthy clan into hiring his brood for different household jobs, all the while pretending that they aren’t his family members. What starts as a playful jab at the gap between haves and have-nots becomes an increasingly angry and surprisingly emotional treatise on life in the modern age. Bong has demonstrated an ability to work in disparate styles, locating the messy humanity in his complicated characters. With
Parasite, he’s delivered his most eloquent—and also most thrilling—commentary on our deeply fallible nature, complete with an ending that may blindside you.
Thank you to our Community Partner Korean Center!