 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 2019 film the highly lauded 2019 film parasite Now is this a horror film because I mainly do horror film reviews. I wouldn't say it's a horror film Does it have horror elements to it? I would say definitely does and that's no big surprise because Bong Joon Ho Sorry, I had to look down. I get the order of his name mixed up from time to time Bong Joon Ho He's actually done horror before so it's not a big surprise that having horror elements in it and pulled off Well in this film is the thing. So there will be no spoilers in this review since it's a newer film I would encourage people to actually watch it Obviously a lot of people said it's a very good film. It is a very good film. So check it out I watched it on Hulu streaming service. So it is available there if you have Hulu This was written and directed by Bong Joon Ho Who did the host memories of murder mother? Okja and snow piercer now. I have not actually of all of those I know of all of those. I've only seen the host before I actually own the host that somewhere back in there Good film. I really like the host now watching This film parasite reminded me a lot of another director who is also from South Korea Who I love and is actually my favorite director of all time Chan-Wook Park or as other people say Park Chan-Wook I say Chan-Wook Park, but you know, it's a US versus South Korea name order thing. So but Yeah, so this film actually reminded me a lot about that but a lot of his stuff I'll talk a little bit more about that later But no spoilers on this one, but thematically Maybe a little bit of thematic spoilers in a sense, but it won't ruin anything about the film really It has Kang Ho song in it who is recognized very recognizable to me. I've seen a few films. He's been in He's in joint security area, which I also own. That's a really good one. That's a Chan-Wook Park film He's also in sympathy for mr. Vengeance also a Chan-Wook Park film lady vengeance also a Chan-Wook Park film memories of murder the host those are Bong Jun-ho films thirst, which is also a Chan-Wook Park film howling and Snowpiercer once again Bong Jun-ho So he's worked with those two amazing filmmakers Quite a bit. So he's very recognizable to people who have been watching the stuff from those two filmmakers And he does a great job in this overall the acting in this is very good I did not have any moments in this film where I was like, ooh that acting is a little rough Top-notch acting now maybe part of that being the budget for this film was eleven point four million dollars US equivalent eleven point four million dollars now What did it make though it became so popular with so highly-lotted two hundred and sixty six million Dollars that's a lot so the the company that put this out was probably like Ching Ching Ching we made crazy amounts of bank Let's make some more of these films So it won the Palm Dore at the Cannes Film Festival for people who don't know that that is like the Primo film that's shown there That's the number one award. You can get it at Cannes It was the first South Korean film to ever do that Well first Korean film to do that because I don't think a North Korean film has ever done that either I think it's safe to say It was the first South Korean film to be recognized by the Academy Awards to even be nominated for things And then it was the first non-English language film to win Best Picture for the Academy Awards. That was like a huge thing um And some people were like, oh my gosh, it's a foreign film, you know, it should have been an American film Come on I was happy that it ended up being a foreign language film because I have seen so many amazing foreign language films and I would like people to understand that You know in order to experience these stories We don't have to just do American remakes of these films Just see the original because there have been so many instances like let the right one in or old boy Old boy originally a chamber park film my one of my favorite films of all time Um, let's just let's not remake these things. Just watch the original Uh, it was in the film was influenced by the 1960 korean film the housemaid Which I have not seen don't know a whole lot about but that's what bong Junho said he also said it was a little bit influenced by Some tutoring that he did for a rich family when he was younger And he just took some inspiration from that and kind of built the story out out that way The first floor of the the main building in this film And the garden area of the of that house were actually constructed on an actual lot of land The basement portion and the second floor were actually done on a sound stage like at an actual studio So it's very interesting that you know, their sets weren't all in the same place It was we're going here for for first floor and outside. We're going here for second floor and basement It's just kind of a weird thing But you know, that's what they do When building on the outside lot they took the sun into account for how they would want to use the light At certain times during the day. That's crazy. That shows a lot of attention to detail And I will say the lighting is used Magnificently in this film now not just the natural lighting which is used very well But the lighting inside and and because they built The house The inside of the house they were able to set the lighting up a certain way and it looks beautiful It lights things beautifully. It is and that's just another thing about this film overall It looks phenomenal Wonderful directing wonderful cinematography. The sets are great. The house was constructed Amazingly it looks sleek. It looks beautiful. It looks expensive Amazing Yeah, the look is great There was a black and white version of this film. It was actually done in limited release I don't know if that would be you know, I don't know what kind of impact that would have Like there are certain times where like I feel like black and white Is an important thing when you're doing more low budget stuff, especially like horror low budget because you can hide a lot of practical effects issues or CGI issues or lighting issues as well, but you know I don't know if that mattered much So they do a good job of establishing Something important to this film in the beginning, which is kind of like a financial hardship. Now. This isn't really a spoiler It's something that's immediately done in the first like minute of the film, but they did a really good job of very appropriately conveying financial hardship because At its core, there's a lot of kind of rich versus poor going on in this and you know societal Upper status versus lower status in this, um, which you know, this has been done in film a lot It's been done in horror film. It's been done in tons of different films. It's an age old thing But they did a good job of establishing the you know lower income situation But they also had comedic aspects to it to kind of lighten it up It's not just all depressing when it comes to that stuff And that's one of the great things about this film too is the comedic moments are actually funny They're kind of paced throughout the film. It's not like they're trying to be like comedy comedy comedy consistently It's kind of sparingly put in but when it happens it actually works Now none of the stuff really lands flat. I actually laughed out loud a few times, which is You know hard to get me to do because you know films usually don't make me laugh out loud um Yeah, the cinematography look really great. Yeah, like I was saying they had some really interesting shots Interesting looking shots and they really used the architecture of the building to great effect when framing a lot of shots Like I was saying it looks so good and you know The lighting looking really great Justification for doing things that are wrong in this film is actually done in kind of a funny way at least initially There's always a way to justify what you want to do and that's kind of established very very early in this and it It's kind of a reoccurring thing where it's you know, should you do this? No, not necessarily, but can you justify it to yourself kind of easily? Yes, and here's how it gets done. So in certain instances, it's kind of just glossed over like that's just what they do in other instances It's rationalized in a funny way and It works There's a clear message of how the rich treat others as not quite human and not civilized like them Um, that's one of these other age old things where you know, people say like the rich They don't live like us the rich. They're not us And that's that's very much on display in this film because like I was saying rich versus poor And you see that Definitely in the way that those richer characters treat people. It's kind of a Yeah, like I said, not quite human everyone else is not quite human The issue of trusting what you are told without verifying is very much on display here now. This is a current societal issue that a lot of societies are having including where I live the United States of just Taking what people say as fact Making assumptions that if someone sounds like they know what they're talking about They know what they're talking about and this is kind of a byproduct of our, you know, online age where You know, you can google information like you can get information pretty easily But the question then is where are you getting the information? Is it from some random blog and you're just like oh because it's on the internet It's got to be true because there are people who do that or are you looking at it and saying Yeah, I don't think this is a reliable source. Let me make sure I find a reliable source So it's kind of changed the thinking of people to just be like Oh, if it looks official or sounds official or both, then I'll just believe it but that's very much in display in this in this movie and A lot of things that end up going wrong in the film could have been avoided Very easily if there was some a little bit of questioning and looking into things done The highlight this highlights how ridiculous society has become when people have become accustomed to making assumptions about so much in life It speaks to our internet driven world where since information is available Everyone present everyone presents themselves as experts on everything. That's another aspect of this People also want to present themselves as they know everything they can do everything But then it's that question of do people buy into it or not and you got to be cautious people need to be cautious especially in this movie Sometimes appearances are everything and all you need that also becomes apparent with some of the characters in this It's all about an appearance. How do you project yourself and you don't need anything else? You don't need anything to back that up The music matches scenes very well in this and it actually feels very very restrained at times which is hard to do but Used great effect and and being restrained in certain situations can have a huge payoff and I think it does in this film There's a point made that rich people have the ability to be nicer and better people Because they're comfortable in life and don't have to make compromises to get by That's a really interesting point that I thought was pointed out that I think for the most part is Pretty true if you think about it Someone who is super rich, you know say just for the sake of this story I'm telling Inherits a bunch of money from their parents and they never have to work a day in their life because they're billionaires They're just born billionaires basically That person will never have to make a decision about Stealing from anyone or you know stealing food to to feed their their family or whatever Meanwhile, someone down, you know much lower on the economic scale May have no money pretty much live paycheck to paycheck They lose their job Then the hard decisions start to be made they get put in those situations where they don't have the financial comfort In order to necessarily always be nice always do the right thing and it kind of presents that in a very interesting way of by financial security People are put in these different situations And with the people who are rich They just end up not Usually not having to be put in in the same situation as people who are not rich So they have the luxury of not having to compromise or be compromised in who they are as people You know morally or ethically The pacing is very good The main heart of the story plays best if it's done slowly But not so much that the audience gets bored now This is a very fine line that's kind of that you have to tread with what the story is Because the nature of the story does need to be done a little bit slowly Otherwise, it's not going to feel natural They hit it pretty much right on so that it it's slow enough not too slow and it feels natural So that's a a big testament to how great the screen the script writing was So uh bong june ho very good on the script writing with that There's a good surprise that opens a lot of possibilities for the story when you think you figured out where the film is going and I know a lot of people have probably said obviously i'm not going to say much about it But there is a twist to it Where you you've settled into the film at this point and you're kind of like Oh, I think I have an idea of where we're going with this I see no the morals to the tail and what where we're going to go and what we're going to do And something's introduced that changes everything and at that moment it's this it's this immediate just recognition in your brain of Everything's potentially out the window right now Because this one thing opens an unbelievable amount of possibilities Got to find out where this goes and that's the thriller aspect of this film There's a great talk in this about cockroaches that ends up becoming a great metaphor that actually plays out They talk about cockroaches how cockroaches act and then there is A metaphor in it that you then it comes to life and you kind of see it in a different way So just you know, if you haven't seen the film and you're watching this just keep that in mind and you'll see what i'm talking about There's good tension executed in this film actually quite good tension It keeps you engaged the entire time because like I said the script writing is very very good There are also good comedic moments already talked about that A scene is painted of how ignorant the rich are of the trials and tribulations of others They're insulated in their fake worlds. Yeah, and that kind of ties in a little bit to the whole thing of You know, you're so financially secure. You're so comfortable. You don't have to make bad decisions, but it's not just that It's even further that these people happen to happen to be end up being so Isolated from the rest of the world and how other people live that they just don't even have a A clue that people get put into these situations or have to deal with these things That they that they never have to or even think about so Sometimes things start a domino effect of bad events and you can still feel for everyone who's involved Now that's one of the biggest strengths of this film And I think one of the reasons that people have reacted to this film as strongly as they have saying oh my gosh It's amazing. It's unbelievable. It's the best blah blah blah Is because a lot of people have probably not been introduced to a story told the way it's told and what I mean is there's a I'm I I wasn't as shocked with how the film went And how the story is told as a lot of other people seeing it for the first time And it's because I'm familiar with the films of chamois park in the beginning I said that this film reminds me a lot of the films of chamois park Now chamois park has a tendency when he does his films Especially with this revenge trilogy that he did consisting of the films old boy sympathy for mr vengeance and lady vengeance Where he creates characters and he fleshes out the characters and gives them enough screen time That you feel for each character you understand all their motivations and you understand that they are not one thing They are not one action that they take with a lot of films It's this person's clearly a good person this person's clearly a bad person Maybe you have somewhere these are the in-betweeners so that when things go down you are like i'm rooting for this good person Chamois park and this movie it's not that situation It's a situation where you understand all the characters you can feel for all the characters because you Get their back stories. You understand why they do the things they do You understand that they're not doing things purely because they're evil or because they're doing malicious stuff It's different motivations that you get And so when things go wrong when the domino effect happens and bad things happen You can feel for everyone involved And that's I think what was such a Impactful thing for people who are seeing this film for the first time and never saw chamois park stuff Um, and that's why people reacted so strongly to it And I get that because when I saw my first few chamois park films That's how I felt. I was I was just like, oh my gosh, you can tell stories like this This is crazy because in my opinion You're an amazing filmmaker if you can make people feel things they don't want to feel And by fleshing out the characters properly and having everyone not black or white, but all shades of gray pretty much When things happen you remember the good in that person in all those people And then bad things happen and you can feel for everyone who something bad happens to And it's tough to deal with because you want to be in that situation That's a little bit safer where you can be like, well, this person was a bad person They got something bad happening to them. I'm fine with that. That's all good. This is the good person They're okay now. It makes me feel good. We're great It uh, it feels kind of bleak, you know, and um, but that's reality That's real and and those are the types of stories I like and that's what parasite does and that's what I like about parasite so That said it actually reminds me in its feel a lot like the film Sympathy for mr. Vengeance by Chanwood park So if you've seen parasite and you have not seen sympathy for mr. Vengeance, you should definitely watch that Actually, if you're going to do that, you should actually just see the whole revenge trilogy by Chanwood park once again consists of old boy sympathy for mr. Vengeance and Lady vengeance. I believe in that order as well. That's the order you should watch it They were all available streaming at the moment on the shutter streaming service So if you have shutter, they're there now. They are the same as parasite as in I wouldn't call them horror movies They're the same thing. They have horror elements, but they're kind of like drama thriller There's a little comedy kind of peppered in but not as much as parasite. So anyway, uh, I think I had one more closing statement Okay, so the title parasite is a dual meaning basically in bong junho um has Been interviewed about this and and he actually had to really fight for the studio to use the title parasite They wanted to use something else. I don't know what that was but he was like it's got to be parasite because there are kind of two sides and both are parasites And I don't want to talk too much about it So I'll just say think about that when you watch the film or if you have already watched the film Think about how both sides in this film are parasites in different ways Just think about it or you can look up what bong junho said about it. So that's another option But anyway, um, thanks everyone for checking this out. I'm uh, give it the star rating now So out of five stars with half stars in play. It's not Total perfection. I do think it could have been story-wise it could have Um been a little tighter actually because in the end There are numerous moments where you think okay, and this is where they end it Okay, no, we're still going and then this is where they end it. Okay. No, we're still going And it ends up having a very good ending to it, but it kind of gets drawn out a little bit And it it feels like it has many endings in a sense, but um, I'm gonna give it four and a half stars I think it's a very good film. It's it's not too far off from being Close to a perfect film But it is not old boy. I will say that I think old boy is like perfect film in my opinion and I need to review that at some point So four and a half stars for Paris site quite enjoyed it recommend it for everyone Uh, this is it's a good time Um, but thanks everyone for checking this out Do me a quick favor though hit that subscribe if you haven't subscribed already The majority of the views I get from videos are not from subscribers So if I could have those people subscribe would help me out a lot It's your way to repay me because I'm just doing this for free Um, hit that thumbs up though if you're already a subscriber Just let me know you're still watching put some comments down there for sure Especially if you've seen Paris site and you have feelings and thoughts on it Especially if they differ from mine Because I like to hear other people's opinions on this stuff But thanks everyone for checking this out and until next time keep it brutal