Parasite (new Bong Joon Ho movie)

stop bumming me out!

I'll try to dig up some of the recent writing on the film I ran across but it's amazing how the one thing that's taken for granted by most audiences in these parts is how much American imperialism permeates the film's atmosphere and there's subtle and not-so-subtle commentary on it!

good piece linked by Ned upthread about that

you have nothing to lose but your heads

Understandable, he can't read.#Parasite #BestPicture #Bong2020 https://t.co/lNqGJkUrDP

— NEON (@neonrated) February 21, 2020

He hasn't seen Gone With The Wind (too long) but his Klan Dad rated it.

Gotta love how all of Trump's cultural reference points seem to be from the 1930s.

Anyway, it's interesting to see the breadth of reactions people have had to this movie. I for one did not find the Parks sympathetic at all. They're not cartoon villains, but they're clearly characterized as cluelessly entitled (the wife) or callously manipulative (the husband). The brilliant thing is that Bong makes the Kims sympathetic even though they're ruthless to the point of near-sociopathy. You want them to succeed, even though their success must be predicated on the dispossession of others.

this remains an exceptionally strange and bewildering timeline

Gotta love how all of Trump's cultural reference points seem to be from the 1930s.

Sunset Blvd (1950) mentioned last night...

about a lone megalomaniac who used to be big, and DOES get arrested when she shoots somebody near her swimming pool.

It's tempting to think about what Billy Wilder would say about him.

Caught this last night - in the cinema, which is a rare treat at the moment. I've seen a few Jong-Ho films so had a bunch of references but I'd managed to avoid any spoilers at all (apart from that it had a 'gory ending'). I loved it.

My initial feeling was that it was a caper film and that the Kims were veteran con artists: even with the pizza box shambles, there was something so slick about their performances that they must have done this, or something like it, before. It wasn't really until the visitation from the former housekeeper that it became apparent they were grifters and from there it all started to come apart. I did find the ending a little chaotic but I felt expertly corralled and was egging on the Kims and dungeon guy.

I keep thinking about the suseok and its grand metaphorical resonance. One way of thinking about it is as an avatar of the old ways; a remnant of real nature. Nature's only presence in the film is as a part of the grand architecture of the house - and is only experienced in a spectacular form, through the massive screen of the window. It seemed to be part of a grander narrative of capital supplanting and commodifying nature. Even the rain seemed allegorical and couldn't eradicate the 'real' of the suseok.

Anyway, ill-thought-through babble aside, what a film to win the Oscar.

the more i think about it, the less unlikely i find its oscar win to be--as a domestic drama of sorts that tragically boils over into violence, it doesn't feel like it's part of an unfamiliar prestige cinema mode beyond how stylized it is.

it's a pretty good movie. i wish it had more breathing room but my sense is that bong wants his movies to be sewn up pretty tight as far as what you're supposed to get out of them. there were some scenes in the back half of the middle that dragged. the epilogue stuff sucked if i'm being honest. but the characterizations were great and it was well-acted and well-observed.

I think it is astonishing that Parasite won the best picture oscar

I loved the epilogue! doom-laden and affecting. I don't quite get that you thought it needed to breathe more but also found it draggy

xp not sure I understand your point exactly, but I didn't think it was sewn up at all, beyond the initial premise it seemed chaotic and completely unpredictable to me

the dragging comment is just about pacing; it got a little slow at times. the breathing room comment is about ambiguity, of which this movie had none.

I've seen all of his movies since MoM and I really just do not think he cares for ambiguity whatsoever

went back, watched Mother and loved it, but haven't seen Memories of Murder yet

"parasite isn't political" is still the most mind-boggling stupid take i've read on this site in a while pic.twitter.com/cAvL9VSzL2

— 红色娘子军🌹 (@detachment_red) February 23, 2020

That second quote is kind of enlightening, actually

In terms of informing us about...certain sorts of minds

she admitted in the next tweet that she hadn't yet seen the movie.

I feel like she's infamously said other stupid shit though too, looking to see if it's the account I think it is.

Simon otm

Probably useless on an English language board, but I did a deep dive into the Korean film archive and made a list of ten films to see from Korean film history, with legal youtube-links to them all. Google translate might be your friend: https://pov.international/koreansk-film-er-mere-end-parasite-10-film-du-kan-finde-pa-youtube/?fbclid=IwAR3iwQpVQCmC1ZJZsXKV500BsYNhQHrskLW0A0Ih71cCS70aW-JAyZ52k6U

*sic voice* fbclid=IwAR3iwQpVQCmC1ZJZsXKV500BsYNhQHrskLW0A0Ih71cCS70aW-JAyZ52k6U

Outsourcing done right

who will be the first to quietly sneak in routing FROM text as a secret message

https://pov.international/koreansk-film-er-mere-end-parasite-10-film-du-kan-finde-pa-youtube/?fbclid=IhweAyRs3iicwiQkpnVoQwCymoCu1aZrJeZrseXaKdVi5n0g0tBhsiYsNbhaQbHarbsokoLeWy0bAa0bIahb7o1oceCy

I posted a few referrer links a while back in the hopes that sic would notice but he didn’t bite

the text was “sic is gonna love this” base64 encoded iirc

In Opinion@MaureenDowd writes, "It’s funny that Donald Trump doesn’t like a movie about con artists who invade an elegant house and wreak chaos. He should empathize with parasites."https://t.co/ceHxQIwbdI

— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 23, 2020

what's fascinating to me is how clearly it's the system which creates the poor/rich gulf that's evil here, and how we see the ways it infects people (parasitically) based on their relative class positions. so yeah, everyone is bad, but the ways they're bad and the kinds of harm they do are specific, and not symmetrical.

― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 19 February 2020 bookmarkflaglink

I think there would need to be a bit more work on part of the audience to go from this really effective dramatization of the hurt caused by inequality -- which is done in all sorts of ways: from the party you are invited to by the back door, to smells of clothing, the judgement of behaviour, all the microaggressions scattered along -- to a conclusion of systemic failure. Part of why this was so successful (though who could've predicted it would be as successful as this) was surely the humour (lots of laughter by the audience I was at throughout) and a deployment of a Carrie-like shock finale (although it wasn't the very ending of the film) to carry the audience around those tougher undercurrents.

It was rare to see something so successful where everyone is so unlikeable (this is very much dour Euro arthouse territory) (although the son turned out to be somewhat likeable with the scene in the gym showing a love for his father that is there right at the end in the letter).

“Unlikable characters” is a fake idea and banned.

So weird how people keep referring to the family in this as 'con artists' they are all clearly very good at the job they were hired to do. She's amazing with the kid, he turns corners incredibly smoothly and is nice, gentle company. The house is spotless.

I think the script cut a corner on showing how effortlessly good they were at everything they put their hand to (including the con artistry, of course)

The con part is in their credentials, which is simply a gatekeeping mechanism to keep undesirable people out

The dad frequently takes his eyes off the road while driving

“Unlikable characters” is a fake idea and banned.

― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Sunday, February 23, 2020 5:17 PM bookmarkflaglink

Nah

I don't massively care about likeability -- and almost never think of it if I go to films by myself -- but the person I was with didn't much care for it because of this.

whom amongst us is truly likeable

Think it’s weird to want characters to be “likable”

I'm trash!

I don't care about films being likable, but there is a growing sect of folk who seem to conflate character POV with filmmaker POV

The lack of niceties among the family is kind've the point, they have to focus 24/7 on the game because they have no safety net. Added to the urgency of the film for me.

xp I call this the Nomi Malone effect.

So weird how people keep referring to the family in this as 'con artists' they are all clearly very good at the job they were hired to do. She's amazing with the kid, he turns corners incredibly smoothly and is nice, gentle company. The house is spotless.

― plax (ico), Sunday, February 23, 2020 5:22 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The con part is in their credentials, which is simply a gatekeeping mechanism to keep undesirable people out

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Sunday, February 23, 2020 5:30 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is almost a good point but it's not just the credentials; they poison the cleaning lady and frame the driver!

i found everyone likeable except Mr Park. even then, he wasn't like evil, just a haughty dork

in a way i kind of agree with the twitter dumbasses screenshotted upthread tbh. it's not that the movie is "apolitical" but the characters are not themselves politicized. the Kims, though likeable and charismatic, aren't noble and have no solidarity with the other working class people they encounter. the Parks are aloof but pay their workers well and care about their kids; Ms Kim seems to feel genuinely bad about letting go of the driver and cleaning lady. a leftist who watched the movie would probably root for the Kims throughout (i did) but a less political person probably wouldn't; they might even except their comeuppance. the level of inequality is deplorable but not everything the Kims do is necessitated by circumstance, they aren't fully absolved by their position in the system. i suspect part of the reason people don't like the ending is because they don't feel Mr Park deserved to be murdered in front of his kids.

the ambiguity stands in p sharp contrast to okja and snowpiercer which are much more allegorical. i think BJH wanted to critique social inequality but not in a way that was too obvious. the best critique is just to accurately portray it, making all the different dimensions of class palpable and cleverly incorporating them into plot points.

Something I was struck by in the movie is that there's a huge lack of class solidarity between the various working class people. What inspired you to write the relationships that way?

You point out something very important. You know, in Mother, you see the have nots and the needy clawing at each other and hurting one another. On the other hand, in The Host, you see the solidarity between them, they save each other and they gather their strengths together. And you could say Parasite is closer to Mother, where the weak and have nots are fighting one another. And that's sad, but it's also realistic. And from those moments, you get this element of sadness, but also the comedy, as well.

the murder of mr. park is prob the moment where the script comes closest to tipping over.

From a dramatic perspective one thing that works really well is the number of times it seems like they're going to get found out, but they don't. The kid saying they all smell the same, the blackmail/hostage by the former housekeeper, hiding under the coffee table, the kid seeing the morse code.

"it's not that the movie is "apolitical" but the characters are not themselves politicized. the Kims, though likeable and charismatic, aren't noble and have no solidarity with the other working class people they encounter."

I think this kind of fracturing of class solidarity was very well done where work either isn't available or where it's precarious.

Haven't read but leaving it here:

I wrote a (very long) analysis for @TropicsM about reading colonialism and war in Parasite, and why a vision for Korean peace that encompasses decolonization in North America + US unincorporated territories is necessary. https://t.co/9AWcFCDj9s

— Chosun Chillbo (@hermit_hwarang) February 17, 2020

Ned posted that earlier. Worth the read.