Parasite is the new film from Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho.Courtesy of MK2 Mile End
- Parasite
- Written and directed by Bong Joon-ho
- Starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun and Choi Woo-sik
- Classification R
- 132 minutes
An exhilarating and furious indictment of class struggle, Parasite might be the masterpiece South Korea’s Bong Joon-ho has been working toward his entire career. Mixing the social outrage of Snowpiercer, the wild humour of Okja, the heartwarming family drama of The Host and the slow-boil vengeance of Mother, Bong’s latest work is a genre-hopping triumph.
Focusing on two families – one a clan of con artists living in a cramped basement apartment, the other led by a tech mogul who keeps his wife and two children safely ensconced in a star architect’s modern-luxe mansion – Parasite expertly plays with tension and expectations. At first, it appears that Bong has created a sharp comedy, especially when he digs into the details of how one family becomes so familiar with the other. But then, in the midst of a torrential thunderstorm no less, both families’ lives become upended in the most peculiar of ways, leading to a final hour that is sharp enough to draw blood.
Parasite opens Oct. 18 in Toronto.
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Barry Hertz