Parasite: a Comedy without clowns, a Tragedy without villains

While most of the world is starting to ease lock-down restrictions, educational institutions still mostly remain shut and we students have enough time to kill for a movie marathon. With theaters still being a no-go area in most countries, most movie releases this year have been postponed so this is a great time to watch movies from your ever-increasing watch-list or re-watch old favorites. If you missed the chance to watch Parasite on the big screens last year and still haven't watched it after it made history by bagging 4 Oscars at the Oscars 2020, then stop reading this, go grab your popcorn and watch this masterpiece because going in blind will give you the best experience - one that stays with you long after the credits are over.

          Parasite is a tale of two families - the Parks, from the very top of the socio-economic ladder and the Kims, from the very bottom rung. As the metaphorical title of the movie suggests, the Kims con their way into the Parks household and leech off them, just as "Parasites" do, to climb the long, rusty social ladder where one misstep might lead to their untimely demise. The dramatic disparity between the two families is beautifully depicted with Mr. Park ascending the stairs to his modern mansion while the Kims scurry down to their basement bunker. The two major settings of Parasite - the magnificent mansion and sprawling lawns of the Park residence and the cramped and cluttered basement apartment of the Kims is in stark contrast. The backdrop is reminiscent of Kurosawa's masterpiece "High and low" where an affluent businessman lives in a high-rise apartment overlooking slums. After a day of heavy rain, the Kims basement apartment is flooded and they wade through sewage water to retrieve their meager belongings. After spending the night at a camp, the next morning they attend a birthday party at the Parks. The heavy rain that flooded the Kims apartment, was a "blessing" for the Parks as they could host a garden party for their son's birthday. While looking at the people attending the birthday party, the protagonist, Ki-woo asks the Parks daughter, "In this setting, do I fit in?"  But it is more of a rhetoric question that sums up the sentiment of the movie...the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots of society. On the surface, this movie is like a comedy revolving around a family of con-artists, but delve deeper and the theme is capitalism and materialism. But make no mistake, while the movie focuses on class disparity in Korea, there are Parks and Kims all over the world. 

                 Parasite’s opening shot of a small glass window looking up from a basement house to the view of a narrow winding road is an indication that the way we view the world changes immensely depending on which window we're looking out of. The Kims fortune starts to change after Ki-woo's friend Min, gives them a stone that is believed to bring material wealth. Ki-woo enters the Park family residence as an English tutor (albeit with forged credentials) for their daughter. As soon as he finds that Mrs Park is gullible, he introduces his sister Ki-jung as an art teacher for her son. Ki-jung craftily gets the Parks driver fired and introduces her father Mr.Kim as a replacement. Mr.Kim almost guiltily wonders if the driver whom he replaced has been employed elsewhere. His daughter reminds him that given their financial condition, they cannot afford to think about others. The Kims scheme together and soon after, Mrs.Kim is employed as a maid in the Park household. When Mr.Kim mistakes Mrs.Park's gullible nature and says "she is nice", Mrs.Kim retorts "She is nice because she is rich".   

                 The screenplay writers artfully spin the yarn of storytelling and weave in the genres of thriller, mystery, comedy and satire seamlessly. As the Kims materialistic greed escalates, so does the mad chaos in the movie. The Kims dream of coming out of their basement and into the sunshine, but in the pursuit of their materialistic happiness, they lose sight of what's truly important, for "what does it profit a man to gain the world if he loses his own soul?"