Parasite

South Korea 2019. dir. Bong Joon-ho. 132 mins.

Available on DVD/BluRay

Reviewer Ed Farolan

This 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film is excellent, combining elements of Hitchcock and Scorcese. It just won four Oscars, including Best Film and Best Director.

Written by Bong Joon-ho and co-written with Han Jin-won, it stars Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, and Park So-dam, and follows the members of a poor household who scheme to become employed by a wealthy family by infiltrating the household and posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals.

The film premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2019, where it became the first Korean film to win the Palme d'Or and the first to win with a unanimous vote since 2013's Blue Is the Warmest Colour. It was then released in South Korea by CJ Entertainment on 30 May 2019. It was praised as one of the greatest South Korean films ever made grossing $165.4 million worldwide so far, becoming Bong's highest-grossing release and the third highest-grossing film in South Korea.

. © 2020 Ed Farolan