Parasite (dir. Bong Joon-Ho)

camz09

Anyone seen this yet? Man, what a ride. I now understand why it won the Cannes Palme D'Or.
It's not perfect but I thoroughly enjoyed that 2h something thrill ride. Funny, with emotional touches, some commentary on social inequality, some shocking images too.

It's like Shoplifters, Burning and Us had a threesome, this is their baby, but better?

speedboatchase

When is it released?

johnny_ultimate

speedboatchase wrote: »

When is it released?

No release date here yet. Curzon have the rights and they have a bad habit of waiting until February - March of the subsequent year before releasing their big ticket Cannes releases. Hopefully they’ll overcome that habit and give it a 2019 release in the end.

Should start showing up at London / Cork film fests over the next few months if nothing else. October release in the US.

PieOhMy

Sae this last night and really liked it too. Very invested from start to finish.

p to the e

I love Song Kang-ho and Burning so I'll give this a watch when I can. When I first saw Bong Joon-ho doing a film called "Parasite" I immediately thought it was a sequel to "The Host".

BDI

Watched last night probably the funniest sex scene I’ve ever seen.
Nodded off in last ten minutes even though I was highly invested. I’ll watch the end tonight.

Great so far was just very tired.

Lionbacker

Looking forward to seeing it whenever it does eventually drop on these shores.

For what it's worth, its already ranked amoung the top 10 movies of all-time on Letterboxd!

Slydice

A neon film eh? *braces for horror*

trailer:

amongst the best movies of the last few years imo.

Lionbacker

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

No release date here yet. Curzon have the rights and they have a bad habit of waiting until February - March of the subsequent year before releasing their big ticket Cannes releases.

Spot on.
Release date of February 7th 2020 has been announced, so quite a wait to see it.

johnny_ultimate

Lionbacker wrote: »

Spot on.
Release date of February 7th 2020 has been announced, so quite a wait to see it.

Indeed. Little bit baffled by the release strategy. Wasn’t in London Film Fest (I’d have placed money on it being the surprise film but it turned out to be Uncut Gems), isn’t on in either the upcoming East Asian or Korean film fests in the UK, and I’d say the odds for Cork are therefore slim too. The buzz from the US is electric at the moment so personally think it’s a shame they’ve held it back so long.

Only cause for optimism is a Curzon exec on Twitter hinting / joking there’ll be ‘previews’ before the end of the year:

https://twitter.com/jwgarriock/status/1182217343012937728?s=21

(Also yes I’m too invested in UK / Ireland film distribution news :pac:)

ronnie3585

I watched this last night, wow - what a movie! Absolutely fantastic, easily my movie of the year so far.

cmac2009

ronnie3585 wrote: »

I watched this last night, wow - what a movie! Absolutely fantastic, easily my movie of the year so far.

Agreed. Entralling and tremendous performances all round. Highly recommend.

Drumpot

Watched it last night and while enjoyable I’m not getting the 9-10 out of 10 excitement.

I was tired while watching it but at the start

it really does look like the parasites are the poor people exploiting the kind of good nature of the mother of the rich family. And as it goes on you see that money doesn’t change the poor family (you are who you are with or without money, probably more a product of your environment )by the way they treat the dog (she hits dog straight after saying it) and moreso how they treat the cleaning lady and her husband who are effectively a better version of what they are doing. You really would of thought they would have some empathy for them but instead the mother gets all pious until her family is found out by the slip.

You could see it turning

dark from here on and it got very dark.I didn’t find the sed scene funny at all, you basically had a homeless family hiding under a table , listening to rich people call the father a smelly piece of sh*t and then have to listen to them get each other off. I thought it was horrible and uncomfortable.

That moment,

coupled with the stress of the flood, the dealings with the other family in the basement and probably not things through (no plan) ultimately setup the kill at the end.

It is a very good commentary or analogy on how we often wrongly see things as black or white and how we don’t really care about our fellow man if it’s not impacting us directly. The ruthless

way that the poor family exploited not just te rich family but discarded their previous servants was sickening. But equally sickening was the ignronce of the rich who don’t even see their servants or poor people as humans. The husband doesn’t even self reflect on why certain people might smell, Instead just scoffing at the very idea of it.

I’m sure there is other nuances or angles I missed and if I’d of seen it without hearing “masterpiece” type reviews I might it enjoyed it more.

Carcharodon

Was a bit disappointed, probably because of expectations more than anything. I didn’t know what it was about but heard masterpiece and best film this year so was really excited and didn’t watch any trailer so as try and go in without any expectations on story.
It had some really good scenes, funny and beautifully shot, a lot of Asian movies have great cinematography, “long days journey into night” was breathtaking to watch at the movies even though it was a bizarre movie but this movie did have a good story to go a long with its cinematography.
I did find it a bit drawn out and predictable, I was expecting the movie to show me something I hadn’t seen before (not literally) but it fell flat.
7/10
I

spurious

Not sure when it opens here, but go and see it.
Saw it tonight in the Screen Unseen slot.

I think we may have missed the first 3 or so minutes, though we were there at the supposed start time. Nonetheless, it didn't lessen the experience.
Definitely one to watch again. Beautiful to look at, excellent film.

johnny_ultimate

Bong is the man. Across all his films there’s always a refusal to toe the genre lines, and this is one of the purest realisations yet of his filmmaking philosophy.

The thing is made with clockwork precision. Some say you’re not meant to notice good editing, but I sure as hell noticed this, and it’s immense. The way it holds back for so long, arguably even after it starts revealing some of its weirder surprises, is just a thrill to experience. Match that with the visual direction, which constantly combines razor-sharp compositions with loaded visual metaphor, and it’s simply a pleasure to watch. Bong’s been a great director since Barking Dogs... but he’s Hitchcockian in the levels of precision here.

The plot and the socio-political commentary are so tightly intertwined to be basically inseparable. The characters are battling through the divides that govern this world - that just happens to make for some delightful satirical thrills. Bong isn’t one for easy answers (the boldly unsubtle ending of Okja maybe excepted) so this is a slippery beast - morally ambiguous throughout, and the identify of the eponymous parasite deviously unclear. But again everything is rooted in the societal divides, reflected down to the set design.

There’s a sort of tragic pointlessness to everything that goes down here... but, in one or two moments, hints of hope and brief, sudden moments of relief from the burdens of it all. That said, for all its momentum and witty satire, it came across as a bleak film to me overall - not short on empathy for the characters and almost always lively, but definitely an undercurrent of despair and frustration under it all.

Anyway, looking forward to pondering it more, and maybe even a rewatch. But I’ve been waiting for months to see this and it didn’t let me down. Bong is the man.

johnny_ultimate

An actual release is actually finally in sight!

Lighthouse, Palás and IFI have preview screenings on February 3rd - only a satellite Q&A (boo!) but for those of you who can't wait for public release a few days later... (that would have been me a few days ago).

Saruwatari

Got my ticket to see it in the IFI. Seems it and the Lighthouse screenings are on at almost the same time, so the QnA must be back-to-back or shared?

johnny_ultimate

Saruwatari wrote: »

Got my ticket to see it in the IFI. Seems it and the Lighthouse screenings are on at almost the same time, so the QnA must be back-to-back or shared?

Yeah it's just the same Q&A broadcast from London alas, it's showing in a bunch of cinemas too. Shame they couldn't bring him over in person as he's been doing a heap of q&as in London already over the past few weeks, and now more planned.

Saruwatari

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Yeah it's just the same Q&A broadcast from London alas, it's showing in a bunch of cinemas too. Shame they couldn't bring him over in person as he's been doing a heap of q&as in London already over the past few weeks, and now more planned.

Ah, shame. Well, still a night to look forward to!

JP Liz V1

A series to HBO

https://ew.com/tv/2020/01/09/parasite-limited-series-hbo/

Niska

Nominated for 4 BAFTAs - Best Picture, Director , Original Screenplay and Non English language Film.

http://www.bafta.org/film/awards/ee-british-academy-film-awards-nominees-winners-2020

Hopefully the ongoing award nominations means a larger release than normal for a foreign language pic.

johnny_ultimate

Niska wrote: »

Hopefully the ongoing award nominations means a larger release than normal for a foreign language pic.

It’s looking like there should be a good release for it. There’s a few insights into the release strategy in Sight & Sound this month. The distributor Curzon / Artificial Eye has burned a few bridges with the big UK chain Picturehouse by insisting on putting new releases on their streaming platforms at the same time as the normal release. But they’re dropping that requirement for Parasite and going all-in, so it should get into more screens. Hell, I saw it in an Odeon :pac:

They’re not doing the same with Portrait of a Lady on Fire which they are AFAIK making available for streaming too - interesting to see the other world cinema critical darling of 2019 getting a more traditional ‘Arthouse’ release only a few weeks later. Somewhat of a shame since they’re both superb films that deserve to be seen as widely as possible... but no doubt Parasite is the one with greater crossover appeal.

shrapnel222

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

It’s looking like there should be a good release for it. There’s a few insights into the release strategy in Sight & Sound this month. The distributor Curzon / Artificial Eye has burned a few bridges with the big UK chain Picturehouse by insisting on putting new releases on their streaming platforms at the same time as the normal release. But they’re dropping that requirement for Parasite and going all-in, so it should get into more screens. Hell, I saw it in an Odeon :pac:

They’re not doing the same with Portrait of a Lady on Fire which they are AFAIK making available for streaming too - interesting to see the other world cinema critical darling of 2019 getting a more traditional ‘Arthouse’ release only a few weeks later. Somewhat of a shame since they’re both superb films that deserve to be seen as widely as possible... but no doubt Parasite is the one with greater crossover appeal.

definitely my 2 fav films of 2019, although personally enjoyed portrait of a lady on fire more.

SimonTemplar

RTE's review of this film is absolutely terrible. The opening paragraph describes it as "nothing more than a toothless screwball comedy" which really is very unfair and basically incorrect. It then goes on a long diatribe trying to justify that appraisal, all of which reads like a first draft in need of many more revisions.

The reviewer claims to "have not lost anything in the nuances and subtleties of translation, I got it all." This itself is an odd remark to make in a professional review but it is undercut by the fact that he says the father is a Mercedes Benz executive, which he is not. He just owns one.

And finally, the last paragraph totally contradicts rest of the review when he says "Ultimately, it's probably worth seeing Parasite because it is a provocative film, it excites views, and will provoke much discussion."

It does contain spoilers including things that happen in the third act.
https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/movie-reviews/2020/0113/1106123-masquerading-as-sharp-satire-parasite-is-limp-escapism/

I don't mind reviewers going against the general critical consensus (Kermode did so for Hereditary for example) but I get annoyed when such professional reviews lack basic competence.

brevity

Booked tickets for this in the cork omniplex. There is a live q&a with the director afterwards so that should be interesting

brevity

I loved this movie. I’m still taking it in. It was shot beautifully. The scenes in the rain are stunning and I really got a lot from it.

Lionbacker

Saw it myself tonight too.
Found it very enjoyable despite it having quite bleak ending. I noticed similarities to Snowpiercer in it's portrayal of class division, so its seems like Bong likes touching on that subject as a basis for a few of his movies & he's done it fantastically well here.

Interesting Q&A tonight as well that was unfortunately cut short.

sporina

saw this movie tonight - OMG - i was so invigorated afterwards.. don't feel ready to be able to write a proper review but suffice to say, it was astounding.. such a 3 dimensional piece of work - i wasn't expecting the thriller aspect; it had me on the edge of my seat to say the least.. it seems to hit every genre - v sincere to being quite farcical at times - but none the less, it lives up to its title.. "parasite".. i won't elaborate on that at a risk of spoiling it for those of you who have not yet seen it - but I highly recommend it! wow.

MJohnston

Exceelllllent movie! I want everyone in my life to watch it so that I can have conversations about the themes! Incredible performances from Song Kang-ho and Choi Woo-shik.

santana75

Saw this tonight and its another film that is way overhyped. I saw mark kermode's review where he absolutely raved about it. He's seen it 5 times already. That sold me along with the universally glowing reviews. But it's just not as good as everyone is making it out to be. It's alright, I'm not saying it's a bad movie, but personally I found it mediocre. It's up for best picture tomorrow alongside Once upon a time in Hollywood and for my money the latter is the better film, by quite some way. It starts off well and the middle section is interesting but the last third of the film is farcical and I found myself losing interest.

I saw it in the cinema last summer, watched it a week ago with my brother, and am thinking about watching it again today. It just works so well for me, but I can see why the final third could throw some people.

RasTa

I think I hyped this film up too much. Tis good but didn't suck me in like the Lighthouse.

mikhail

I enjoyed this a lot! It's a bit like a good heist movie in that there's humour and satisfaction in seeing the con artistry (however horrifying some of the details) unfurl. It finds so many great situations to mine the tension of someone nearly getting caught. Ultimately, it isn't afraid to have a complex ending, or at least not a simple happy ever after. The class commentary adds an interesting edge to it, but doesn't get preachy like too many modern US movies. As others have commented, it looks great. The geography of the Park home is used to great effect to show people spying, hiding, or simply having multiple threads of the narrative almost colliding. The language is playful, from the various connotations loaded onto the term 'sis' as wielded by the three older women, to the random use of English phrases as a sort of code signalling of class.

Fingers Mcginty

Not bad 6/10 for me. IMO this film is way overhyped.

MJohnston

Who cares about the hype? A review of a film that’s almost entirely based on what other reviews of the film have been saying is a pretty worthless thing.

A film will live a long, long time past the point where people remember hype or not, so try and take these things on their own merits instead of reacting to the noise around you. Otherwise, honestly, most comments I see that mention hype, I pretty much always write off as trying too hard to seem contrarian, and I think most people do this too.

speedboatchase

One of the most inventive movies I've seen in years.

Quartzy99

Really good movie, original with clever plot.
Would recommend avoiding reading any reviews before you go to see it!

mailburner

loved it also and I fancy it will be the first foreign movie to
take home the best picture oscar

johnny_ultimate

Never thought an Oscar win would put a big smile on my face, but so happy this emerged victorious.

I’ve been watching Bong Joon Ho films in the cinema since The Host, and it brings me nothing but joy to see him finally breaking through and shattering the limits of what foreign language filmmakers can achieve. Delighted the win will also make this film even more widely seen (not that it needed the help - apparently this is shattering foreign language cinema records after being released on Friday).

Incredibly nice guy; masterpiece of a film; Oscar history made (in a good way, for a change). That’s a good Monday morning.

brevity

Yea, very happy for everyone involved. It’s a super film. Would love to see it in the cinema again.

p to the e

I've been waiting to see this for months and I resisted the urge to download it (legally of course) as I felt it warranted a cinema visit. What I felt this film was was an experience. People can be forgiven for thinking that film and/or cinema is about entertainment. They can forget that it is also, in its purest sense, an artform. Films don't just have to entertain us by blindly leading us through one happy scene after another but can also be used to shock, confuse, arouse and many other emotions against our will.

That's what Parasite is. It's an experience that you just have to let the director take you where he wants to go. You think it's going one way then it decides to veer left and confound you. You're presented with so little about the characters yet you know so much. I've been entertained by other films more this year but none have had the lasting impression on me like Parasite.

Note: Song Kang-ho has impressed me since I saw him in "Memories of Murder", his first film to collaborate with Bong Jon-ho. It's great to see him start to get the international acclaim he deserves although a best actor nomination for a non English speaking role might have been a bit too much for the academy this time.

Technocentral

Very much enjoyed it but not as good as the Irishman, 1917 or Joker for me.

Technocentral

"the last third of the film is farcical and I found myself losing interest"?

You do know its a satire right!!

spurious

Delighted it won. Looking forward to watching it again.

Hrududu

Saw this at the weekend and really enjoyed it. Had no idea what to expect going in. I haven’t seen 1917 yet to compare them but delighted it took home Best Picture. It’s rare that I enjoy the types of films that end up winning that award.

MJohnston

I can’t help but keep thinking about that sequence when they’re returning home in the rain - it’s so filled with silent subtext, and also manages to look like something Hayao Miyazaki might animate. Stunning moment.

sporina

i actually plan to go to see it again... what a masterpiece - not a lover of the Oscars but delighted for the director none the less..
what a rollercoaster of a movie. and so intelligently written - man - nothing but respect for these people.. wow.. love the Arts

johnny_ultimate

Caught it again yesterday, thankfully with a decent few weeks gap between viewings.

Two words I'd use to describe the film (beyond the usual gushing adjectives ) are light-footed and precise.

Light-footed because it flows like a dream. It's a rare feat for someone to make a film that is as formally and thematically rigorous as this one while still being such a wild, exciting film to watch. Didn't notice the overt Hitchcock nod the first time, but Bong is one of the few filmmakers to be playing in the master's ballpark in that sense. It's thrilling and funny, with many lengthy sequences - like the

peaches

montage or the entire 45 mins long stretch that unfolds

after the doorbell ominously rings

- being masterful examples of pulpy filmmaking. Whole thing grabbed my attention from the off and never let up, twice now. Especially impressive given how bleak some of the subtexts and later proceedings are. But like Hitchcock films, this one is so playful - indeed, both love trolling the audience in their own way, constantly upending our expectations of the story and characters.

But then equally - and this is where the precision comes in - there's the command over tone, imagery and form: whether that's the brilliant motif of characters ascending and descending stairs to underscore the wild class dynamics at play here, or the incredible set design in the house which is immediately an all-timer of a film setting (that dark door down to the basement alone is such a potent image). Jung Jae-il's score is something I appreciated much more second time around - waltzing almost imperceptibly between farce and tension, and helping Bong land the tonal dance.

I know the ending has left some cold, but for me there's one key scene early on that underscores why it works.

When they're all in the evac centre after the flood, Kim Ki-taek's points out the only plan that always work is no plan. So when his son starts imagining this perfect plan to buy the house himself and a perfect family reunion, to me it's a sort of tragedy and hopelessness. I'm usually not a big fan of a film fading to black late in the game before fading back in, but Bong does it so well here - we get the dream, but then we sadly fade back to reality, the camera dipping back into the basement apartment one last time.

p to the e

Interesting article about the theme of smells in Parasite.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/13/parasite-smell-bong-joon-ho