Parasite (Gisaengchung) (2019)
94%RT Audience Score: 90%
Awards & Nominations: Won 4 Oscars
308 wins & 271 nominations total
An urgent, brilliantly layered look at timely social themes, Parasite finds writer-director Bong Joon Ho in near-total command of his craft.
Parasite is a cinematic masterpiece that will leave you on the edge of your seat. Bong Joon-ho’s direction is playful yet sincere, taking you on a rollercoaster of emotions. The film effortlessly shifts from comedy to drama to thriller, leaving you guessing until the very end. The writing is brilliant and culturally relevant, making it a flawless knockout. It’s no wonder why this film has received such high praise from critics and audiences alike. So grab some popcorn and get ready for a wild ride with Parasite!
Production Company(ies)
C J Entertainment, Barunson E& A
Distributor
Neon
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Jahamun-ro, Buam-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language, some violence and sexual content
Year of Release
2019
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:Dolby Atmos
-
Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
-
Runtime:2h 12m
-
Language(s):Korean, English
-
Country of origin:Korea (South)
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Nov 1, 2019 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 11, 2019
Genre(s)
Drama
Keyword(s)
Parasite, R, Drama, Korean, Bong Joon Ho, Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yanggwon, Han Jinwon, Song Kang-ho, Jo Yeo-jeong, Park So-dam, Choi Woo-sik, Lee Sun-gyun, Park Seo-joon, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital, Scope, box office, $53.4M, reviewed by Tim Robey, Simran Hans, Clarisse Loughrey, Linda Marric, Ben Croll, Mark Kermode, Tom O’Brien, Brian Eggert, Jeffrey Harris, Taylor Baker, Jeffrey Zhang, Nicholas Oon, starring Song Kang-ho as Ki-taek, Jo Yeo-jeong, Park So-dam as Ki-jung, Choi Woo-sik as Ki-woo, Lee Sun-gyun as Mr Park, Park Seo-joon as Min, directed by Bong Joon Ho, written by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jinwon, produced by Kwak Sin-ae and Moon Yanggwon, MPAA rating R, class discrimination, wealthy family, poor family, symbiotic relationship, social themes, urgent, layered, brilliant, timely, cinematic soul, tragicomedy, satirical writing, emotionally resonant, culturally relevant, flawless knockout, masterpiece
Worldwide gross: $263,136,741
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $304,042,542
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 497
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 33,156,220
US/Canada gross: $53,369,749
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $61,666,319
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 978
US/Canada opening weekend: $393,216
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $454,343
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,433
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $11,400,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $13,172,182
Production budget ranking: 1,556
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $7,093,220
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $283,777,140
ROI to date (est.): 1,400%
ROI ranking: 78
Jo Yeo-jeong – self
Park So-dam – Ki-jung, Ki-taek’s Daughter
Choi Woo-sik – Ki-woo, Ki-taek’s Son
Lee Sun-gyun – Mr. Park
Park Seo-joon – Min
Director(s)
Bong Joon Ho
Writer(s)
Bong Joon Ho, Han Jinwon
Producer(s)
Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yanggwon
Film Festivals
Cannes, Telluride, Toronto
Awards & Nominations
Won 4 Oscars
308 wins & 271 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Directing Winners, Oscar Best International Feature Film Of The Year Winners, Oscar Best Picture Winners, Oscar Best Writing Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Winners, Oscar Winners
All Critics (467) | Top Critics (83) | Fresh (460) | Rotten (7)
I think it’s a career peak for [Bong Joon-ho].
February 14, 2020
Tim Robey
Monocle
TOP CRITIC
Watching that drama — the bricks sort of build and then topple — is so satisfying.
February 14, 2020
Simran Hans
Monocle
TOP CRITIC
[Bong Joon-ho]’s work is as playful as it is sincere and revelatory. He’ll make you feel at home, and then rip the rug out from under you.
February 12, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Clarisse Loughrey
Independent (UK)
TOP CRITIC
This is what a true masterpiece looks like.
February 12, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Linda Marric
The Jewish Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Bong delivers a stunning return to form with this newest venture.
February 12, 2020
Ben Croll
TheWrap
TOP CRITIC
A tragicomic masterclass that will get under your skin and eat away at your cinematic soul.
February 9, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
This is a filmmaker working at the top of his game, aided by brilliant satirical writing that feels as culturally relevant as it is emotionally resonant. It is a flawless knockout in every sense of the word.
June 14, 2022 | Rating: 10/10
Tom O’Brien
Next Best Picture
Though Bong calls Parasite a “tragicomedy” and layers the material with lively humor and his signature tonal playfulness, it’s also his most furious and most fatalistic picture to date.
February 23, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Bong Joon-ho has created something with Parasite thats darkly humorous, compelling, dramatic, poignant, and bittersweet all at the same time.
February 14, 2022 | Rating: 9.5/10
Jeffrey Harris
411mania
Episode 52: Jojo Rabbit / The Lighthouse / Parasite
December 1, 2021 | Rating: 96/100
Taylor Baker
Drink in the Movies
A twist-laden narrative that effortlessly shapeshifts from comedy to drama to thriller with liquid ease.
September 7, 2021 | Rating: A
Jeffrey Zhang
Strange Harbors
My respect for Bong Joon-Ho is up in the sky, because he and everyone else involved in this movie pretty much knocked it out of the park on multiple fronts.
September 4, 2021 | Rating: 9/10
Nicholas Oon
Maximum Hype (YouTube)…
Plot
The Kims – mother and father Chung-sook and Ki-taek, and their young adult offspring, son Ki-woo and daughter Ki-jung – are a poor family living in a shabby and cramped half basement apartment in a busy lower working class commercial district of Seoul. Without even knowing it, they, especially Mr. and Mrs. Kim, literally smell of poverty. Often as a collective, they perpetrate minor scams to get by, and even when they have jobs, they do the minimum work required. Ki-woo is the one who has dreams of getting out of poverty by one day going to university. Despite not having that university education, Ki-woo is chosen by his university student friend Min, who is leaving to go to school, to take over his tutoring job to Park Da-hye, who Min plans to date once he returns to Seoul and she herself is in university. The Parks are a wealthy family who for four years have lived in their modernistic house designed by and the former residence of famed architect Namgoong. While Mr. and Mrs. Park are all about status, Mrs. Park has a flighty, simpleminded mentality and temperament, which Min tells Ki-woo to feel comfortable in lying to her about his education to get the job. In getting the job, Ki-woo further learns that Mrs. Park is looking for an art therapist for the Parks’ adolescent son, Da-song, Ki-woo quickly recommending his professional art therapist friend “Jessica”, really Ki-jung who he knows can pull off the scam in being the easiest liar of the four Kims. In Ki-woo also falling for Da-hye, he begins to envision himself in that house, and thus the Kims as a collective start a plan for all the Kims, like Ki-jung using assumed names, to replace existing servants in the Parks’ employ in orchestrating reasons for them to be fired. The most difficult to get rid of may be Moon-gwang, the Parks’ housekeeper who literally came with the house – she Namgoong’s housekeeper when he lived there – and thus knows all the little nooks and crannies of it better than the Parks themselves. The question then becomes how far the Kims can take this scam in their quest to become their version of the Parks.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Song Kang-ho, who plays the patriarch of the Kim family in Parasite, has worked with director Bong Joon Ho on several previous films, including Memories of Murder and The Host.
Bong-Joon-Ho.jpg
