I now understand all the hype surrounding Parasite. It came out in 2019, won an Oscar for Best Film, and was the first non-English speaking movie to win. It has a complicated storyline about class, their smells, some side plots, all shrouded in a dark comedy thriller. I'll give you the gist in a very small nutshell, but you really have to see it for yourself.
***WARNING MINOR SPOILERS***
Parasite is about two Korean families that both end up being parasites to each other. The Kim family is poor, and they live in a messy, dirty, basement apartment, and the Parks live in a famous house built by a world renowned architect. The son of the Kims gets invited to tutor the daughter of the Parks in English. He's charming and quickly accepted into their family. All the Kim family members eventually infiltrate the Park household after sabotaging the old hired help and faking qualifications. They begin making good money from the Parks, and before you know it, everything is looking up for the Kims and going as planned. BUT the Parks don't know the Kims are related! They put up an amazing front with their street smarts and completely con the Park family! Until...
The old housekeeper that was replaced by Mrs. Kim comes back for something she forgot in the basement. It ends up going off the rails, mayhem ensues, but there are hints throughout that she knows more than she lets on about the house.
People get stabbed at a kid's birthday party where the theme is "Indians". Yes, there's a huge class divide and there's also racism going on. It's offensive and really makes you hate the Park family even more. It's the icing on the "metaphorical" birthday cake.
Overall, it's a great story. If you're a fan of horror movies it has a nice build up at the end, the scenes are shot with a deep colorful palette, keep track of lighting since it plays a significant role, and note what family goes up and down the stairs. At first, I didn't like the Kims because they were scamming a naive rich family, then I didn't like the Parks because they are people that are terrible as a result of their lifestyle. So much to see and interpret, I may need to watch it again. If you can get past reading subtitles and over two hours run time, it's worth it. I give it five out of five peaches.
Trailer...
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