I have been a fan of Korean cinema for quite some time. I was first introduced to it many years ago and I can say without a doubt that the South Koreans make some of the finest movies in the world, particularly in the "thriller" category.
Parasite would have just passed me by without me even knowing about it but i had heard that it was good enough that it was being considered at the Oscars to not only for "Best Foreign Language Film" but also to perhaps invade the major categories as well, which is extremely rare for a film that isn't in English.
I'm going to tell you almost nothing about the plot because it is important to go into this film blind..
What makes this film great?
The main thing is that the story is not predictable and incorporates so many different genres which would normally be confusing and / or dumb. However, despite that there is a bit of horror, major thriller aspects, serious societal issues that we all face, and a bit of comedy, it all simply WORKS.
Basically it involves two families: One that is extremely poor and struggles to have enough money to eat
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and one that has such an unimaginable wealth that they fuss over what the average person would find dream-like such as elaborately themed birthday parties
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The two families end up coming together and all seems wonderful, for a time.... and that is all I'm gonna say.
This movie will make you feel a full range of emotions and even though you are almost certainly going to be reading the subtitles (unless you are Korean, obviously) you don't even mind because there is almost no wasted dialogue and the story moves as such a gripping pace that there are no moments where you have a chance to be bored. The director deserves a lot of praise for this because I think most films, even good films suffer from at least a bit of "filler" in order to make it to the obligatory one and a half hours mark.
From the Madman Films official channel
Look, i know I recommend a lot of films, some would argue too many. Despite that I want you to know you can go ahead and skip everything else I have ever recommended and head straight to this one. This is the best film I have seen in 2019 and probably one of the best films I have seen in my life.
It is quite simply, a masterpiece.
It is extremely rare for a Korean language film to do well in North America but that is exactly what happened with Parasite. Seriously, get out there and find a way to see this film. It is not on Netflix but it is on Amazon Prime in selected regions. There are of course, other ways, but they are less than legal and I'm not gonna help you with that.
My overall rating! 11/10
the highest "Wowsers!" I have ever awarded