Friday, April 10, 2020
Parasite
We like movies for a variety of reasons. Some are just really entertaining, and some make you feel strong emotions. Some of my favorite movies are the ones that are thought-provoking, and make you want to talk to anyone you know who's seen them. I would put Parasite in the last category. My wife and I had a good ten minute conversation right after it was over about everything we'd seen.
Parasite is engrossing from the beginning. I was fascinated at how the poor family was able to slowly work its way more and more into the rich family's lives. Each one of the four family members are cunning in their own way. The movie is in Korean but I forgot I was reading subtitles pretty quickly. The first half of the movie moved at a slower pace, and then the second half got bonkers.
It started with the scene when the poor family is getting drunk while the Parks were away. I wanted to yell at the TV for them to realize that the Parks were going to come back because it was storming. But they were being very reckless.
Then the reveal of the housekeeper and her husband brought up a lot of questions. Did she live in the basement with him too? If she did, where was she the whole time between when she was fired and when she came back to the house? I was confused at first because I thought it made it sound like Mr. Park knew the man was down there, and recognized that he was doing the Morse Code messages with the lights. I realized later that must not have been the case.
As the craziness unfolded later at the birthday party, the main plot point that bugged me at first was why Kim killed Mr. Park. I recognized why he snapped, but it seemed very out of character for him to act that way. I think I understand intellectually why he did it, but not emotionally. I also found it very unlikely that the son would survive being bashed in the head twice by the rock. But is that because the rock brought the family luck? And did the son go down to the basement with the rock with the intention of killing the old housekeeper and her husband? I think he did.
Another question that is open to interpretation is just who the parasite was. Was it the poor family? The housekeepers? The class system in general? I think it's a combination of all of them.
One thing that I didn't understand was why the poor family still lived in the horrible basement apartment at the end of the movie. Their plan at the beginning was to infiltrate this family and each earn a lot of money, so shouldn't they have been able to afford to live a nicer lifestyle? The Park family clearly paid well.
Each scene brings up a lot of questions and interpretations, and I really like that about this movie. What questions or theories do you have?
Parasite is engrossing from the beginning. I was fascinated at how the poor family was able to slowly work its way more and more into the rich family's lives. Each one of the four family members are cunning in their own way. The movie is in Korean but I forgot I was reading subtitles pretty quickly. The first half of the movie moved at a slower pace, and then the second half got bonkers.
It started with the scene when the poor family is getting drunk while the Parks were away. I wanted to yell at the TV for them to realize that the Parks were going to come back because it was storming. But they were being very reckless.
Then the reveal of the housekeeper and her husband brought up a lot of questions. Did she live in the basement with him too? If she did, where was she the whole time between when she was fired and when she came back to the house? I was confused at first because I thought it made it sound like Mr. Park knew the man was down there, and recognized that he was doing the Morse Code messages with the lights. I realized later that must not have been the case.
As the craziness unfolded later at the birthday party, the main plot point that bugged me at first was why Kim killed Mr. Park. I recognized why he snapped, but it seemed very out of character for him to act that way. I think I understand intellectually why he did it, but not emotionally. I also found it very unlikely that the son would survive being bashed in the head twice by the rock. But is that because the rock brought the family luck? And did the son go down to the basement with the rock with the intention of killing the old housekeeper and her husband? I think he did.
Another question that is open to interpretation is just who the parasite was. Was it the poor family? The housekeepers? The class system in general? I think it's a combination of all of them.
One thing that I didn't understand was why the poor family still lived in the horrible basement apartment at the end of the movie. Their plan at the beginning was to infiltrate this family and each earn a lot of money, so shouldn't they have been able to afford to live a nicer lifestyle? The Park family clearly paid well.
Each scene brings up a lot of questions and interpretations, and I really like that about this movie. What questions or theories do you have?
