Why Parasite is a masterpiece

One of the most highly regarded films of the year so far is Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. It won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and is currently out in wide release across quite a few countries. Now I was lucky enough to have seen this back in July and was simply blown away, but I knew I couldn't really make a video that would do justice to the film after only one viewing, so after a few rewatches now I feel qualified to talk about why Parasite is not only one of the best films of the decade, but a complete masterpiece of storytelling. First off, this film is directed by the great Bong Joon-ho, who is without a doubt one of the greatest living filmmakers, responsible for gems such as Memories of Murder, The Host, Snowpiercer and Okja. Not only are his films incredibly well put together with immaculate precision, while still maintaining a pure sense of humanity in every shot, his screenplays are filled with what I can only describe as a darkly playful intelligence. I know it sounds weird, but that's one of the things that sets his movies apart. You can't really pin them down into one genre. He's able to bring levity into scenes packed with intensity, making you feel almost guilty for laughing at these events. And perhaps even harder, he's able to make you take absolutely absurd things with a great level of dramatic weight. And his new film Parasite is basically a perfect amalgamation of all these different qualities. Let's first talk about the story. Parasite follows two families in South Korea, a poor family and a rich family. Obviously it's more complex than that, but you get what I mean. It depicts the poor family's attempt to infiltrate the rich family and this house that they live in, which is basically a character of its own. This initial premise is explored in such a fresh and unique way. There have of course been these self-contained stories that take place in a few locations, allowing those locations to take on a humanity of their own and have an effect on the characters, just as the characters affect them. On a side note, if you like that kind of stuff, be sure to check out a film called The Exterminating Angel. It does share one or two similarities with Parasite, from the masterful changing of tone to the themes of classism, community and humanity. Another strange similarity to Parasite that I've noticed is actually The Shining. Bong Joon-ho masterfully maintains this air of uncertainty throughout the entire film, especially as the house continues to show us the true colours of all these characters. Another side note, but like any great filmmaker, Kubrick's influence on Bong Joon-ho's films can be subtly felt, especially in Snowpiercer where he uses the famous song Midnight the Stars and You that Kubrick of course used at the end of The Shining. One of the things I love most about Parasite's narrative, and the reason so many people across the world have identified with the film, is because the story feels weirdly realistic. This is something that could actually happen, which is a really scary thought, but of course I feel what makes it even better is that there are enough moments that feel perhaps larger than life for us to create a escapism. But from a narrative point of view, what I love most about Parasite is its ability to be a very funny and playful film. It's probably the funniest film of 2019 so far in my opinion, and completely turned that on its head so quickly, without ever feeling jarring and sucking us into this dark and depressing situation. This is a film that will manipulate you, intellectually and emotionally. You feel like it is genuinely controlling you in all the best ways, and once it's over, similar again to Kubrick, it doesn't let go, and there is nothing scarier and there is nothing more impressive. Every time I watch a film from Bong Joon-ho I learn something new about the craft of filmmaking, and here he really brings out the big guns. Although the visuals I will say might not be as avant-garde, oh god that sounds so pretentious I want to punch myself in the face now, but yeah they might not be as bold or experimental shall we say, as something like Snowpiercer or even Okja shot by the legendary Darius Konji. Parasite is very much a visual feast, it makes the most out of the few locations and they shoot the house in very inventive ways, but even on the outside there are some absolutely mind-bending shots. And I've always said that Bong Joon-ho is one of the most influential directors to my work, and actually when I saw the trailer for Parasite they had this shot, and a few weeks before I had seen that trailer I had just shot a short film with this shot, and so when I saw this shot I was like oh f**k I've absorbed a lot from this guy. In fact let's just talk about this film's trailer real quick. Now we all know that sometimes movies that are quite slow-paced have really fast and energetic trailers. The Revenant is one and Silence is another, where it just cuts from random shots really quickly. And in the first trailer for Parasite there's this one shot of someone cutting beef, and I was like why would you have this really intense shot of someone cutting beef? And then you watch the film and you're like oh s**t that is the most intense beef cutting scene I've ever experienced. So the trailer is not misleading you in any way in case you haven't seen the film. Two more things about the filmmaking. Firstly is the blocking. Not a ton of people really do proper well thought out blocking anymore. Blocking is basically how the characters and camera move around to help convey something in the scene. The movement in this film is simply astonishing. The staging where characters are placed within the frame is masterful. Like this for example. This is claustrophobic, this is free and liberating. Every small movement feels carefully considered and that is one of the marks of a great director in my opinion. Final thing about filmmaking and slight spoilers, well not slight, big spoilers, but if you haven't seen the film then chin up I guess, just skip like 30 seconds. One of the things I love most about Korean films is that in these dramas or thrillers there's always a moment of violence every now and then and they're usually directed like proper action scenes. And that's also the case with Parasite. I mean there's this film called I Saw The Devil which is this cat and mouse thriller and then there's a fight scene like this. I mean I think that's kind of cool. That is a thriller slash mystery but it's really a character piece and when there's a bit of action Park Chan-wook doesn't just do it, he does it. Again that is yet another great thing about Parasite. Parasite is a weird film in that it is of course a masterpiece but it's a foreign film and it's kind of an indie film as well but it's almost already become widely recognised as one of the year's best and somehow in some way mainstream and to see a film of this quality be recognised on this level is really special. And no I don't love it because it's an Asian film and I'm Asian, don't worry I'm not one of those. Parasite gave me hope as a filmmaker not because people who made it aren't white but because it's a damn great film and it shows that if you actually make a film of quality and heart and you actually give a ----, maybe people will actually like it and that amongst many other reasons is why I think Parasite is an absolute masterpiece.