Parasite (2019 EIFF 2)

Wow?

Parasite, a Korean film from Bong Joon Ho,  is the most critically-acclaimed film of the year so far. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and, where I watched it, at the Edmonton International Film Festival, it won the audience award. Most of the friends who watched it with me agreed it was the best film at the festival. So why did I not agree with them?

Parasite tells the story of a poor family in Seoul struggling to find work and a way out of their poverty. Then one day an opportunity arises that will offer the perfect way for all four family members (Ki-taek (Kang-ho Song), the husband/father, Chung-sook (Hye-jin Jang), the wife/mother, Ki-jung (So-dam Park), the 20-something daughter, and Ki-woo (Woo-sik Choi), the college-age son) to use their unique talents in the service of one of the city’s wealthiest families, leading to all kinds of mischief and mayhem.

The acting is flawless, the cinematography is stunning, the writing and direction are sharp and tight, the pacing is perfect (fast and slow at exactly the right times) and, best of all, Parasite is full of spot-on social commentary. For the most part, this is a hugely entertaining and thoughtful film that deserves all the accolades it has received. The problem, for me, lies in the words “for the most part”.

The last twenty or so minutes of the film didn’t work for me, for some of the same reasons that Tarantino’s latest film blew it at the end. I wonder if Tarantino had an influence. The ending of Parasite is cold and brutally violent. “It’s a satire”, critics say, a “dark comedy”, so, like Get Out, it’s okay, even necessary, for a film like this to go over-the-top with its violence. I couldn’t disagree more. Especially when by doing so the film takes away what little sympathy I had for any of the characters involved (characters who were otherwise so wonderfully drawn).

Parasite is a brilliant film, so brilliant that I will still give it ***+ - **** and it will probably make my top ten films of the year, but I was very disappointed with the ending, not least because no one else is talking about it. For me, it’s not okay, or ever necessary, to use graphic violence to entertain or to “shock” at the end of a satire, no matter how effective it may seem. At the end of a serious drama (e.g. Calvary, The Lighthouse), it’s a different matter (because it’s decidedly NOT entertaining), though I would argue even there that ‘graphic’ violence is almost never necessary. 

My mug is up, but the stuff inside didn’t need to be so bitter.