1054 Parasite

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therewillbeblus
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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#26 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Aug 11, 2019 11:26 pm

nitin wrote:
Sun Aug 11, 2019 10:52 pm
Nor have I, I thought it was better than Snowpiercer and Mother but below The Host. Memories of Murder is still his clear best film for me.
This is exactly how I felt about the film’s placement, and feel about his filmography ranked, so right on. Memories of Murder is so far and away his masterpiece I’ll be surprised if anything ever challenges its placement, which is no reflection on Bong’s talent but rather a testament to how great that film is. Okja was a disappointment for me, though I know it has its admirers here. I still haven’t seen Barking Dogs Never Bite so I guess that’s overdue.

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zedz
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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#27 Post by zedz » Sun Aug 11, 2019 11:28 pm

nitin wrote:
Sun Aug 11, 2019 10:52 pm
Nor have I, I thought it was better than Snowpiercer and Mother but below The Host. Memories of Murder is still his clear best film for me.

As for the Palme, having just seen Portrait of a Lady on Fire a couple of nights ago, I am not sure how that did not win. It’s admittedly not quite a masterful work, but it is most definitely the work of a (new) master IMHO.
I admit I was rolling my eyes in the Festivals thread when so many people were declaring Portrait of a Lady on Fire to be the "most deserving" winner when nobody had even seen it (I wasn't that taken with Sciamma's Girlhood), but it's the best of the competition films that I've seen so far and would have been a completely understandable choice for Best Director or Best Actress(es) as well.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#28 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Aug 12, 2019 12:12 am

I thought Memories of Murder was a masterpiece -- but have (still) never been able to re-watch the DVD -- because I found the film too upsetting.

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zedz
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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#29 Post by zedz » Mon Aug 12, 2019 4:39 pm

Does anybody NOT think that Memories of Murder is Bong's best film? And are they prepared to back that up with an arm wrestle?

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#30 Post by Aunt Peg » Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:43 am

For me Parasite is Bong's best film to date with Mother, Memories of Murder & The Host not far behind.

Parasite is also the first film I have seen for a second time at the cinema within a couple of weeks of my first viewing in years and I found it equally satisfying the second time around - knowing all the secrets did not diminish my second viewing.

Okja was good (I saw it on the big screen so I don't know if that makes a difference) but I am in no rush to revisit it.

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dda1996a
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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#31 Post by dda1996a » Tue Aug 13, 2019 6:20 am

zedz wrote:
Mon Aug 12, 2019 4:39 pm
Does anybody NOT think that Memories of Murder is Bong's best film? And are they prepared to back that up with an arm wrestle?
Unless Mother and Parasite (which I'm going to watch in the next two days) turn out to be absolutely amazing, I'd agree it's his best. But I also really like Snowpiercer as well. Okja was just ok, kind of disappointing overall. But I hope Parasite isn't another environmental yarn like his last three were.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#32 Post by tenia » Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:06 am

Am I the only one to think
SpoilerShow
the epilogue with the son managing to get his father out is a plan that will never happen ? It seemed in line with the father saying that any plan is bound not to work as expected but would also be way more convincing than the lazy son suddenly getting a hard working guy to the point he turns crazy rich.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#33 Post by nitin » Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:30 am

SpoilerShow
I thought it was clearly a dream plan that will not come true.
Last edited by nitin on Tue Aug 13, 2019 10:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#34 Post by Cde. » Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:46 am

tenia wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:06 am
Am I the only one to think
SpoilerShow
the epilogue with the son managing to get his father out is a plan that will never happen ? It seemed in line with the father saying that any plan is bound not to work as expected but would also be way more convincing than the lazy son suddenly getting a hard working guy to the point he turns crazy rich.
That's how I interpreted it, as did everyone be else I've spoken to who saw the film. I think it's pretty clearly how Bong wanted it to be read.

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tenia
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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#35 Post by tenia » Tue Aug 13, 2019 11:03 am

I haven't seen this explicited in many discussions I've read, hence my question. Thanks for the clarification !

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zedz
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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#36 Post by zedz » Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:41 pm

Cde. wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 8:46 am
tenia wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 7:06 am
Am I the only one to think
SpoilerShow
the epilogue with the son managing to get his father out is a plan that will never happen ? It seemed in line with the father saying that any plan is bound not to work as expected but would also be way more convincing than the lazy son suddenly getting a hard working guy to the point he turns crazy rich.
That's how I interpreted it, as did everyone be else I've spoken to who saw the film. I think it's pretty clearly how Bong wanted it to be read.
Me too. I thought it was a really effective ending. I found it more affecting than
SpoilerShow
the death of the sister, which, to my surprise, hardly landed at all. Am I just callous, or was there something botched about this?

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#37 Post by lzx » Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:04 pm


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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#38 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:28 pm

Film looks great, of course, but "A must-see for anyone who loves cinema" is in the inane trailer quote hall of fame

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zedz
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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#39 Post by zedz » Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:05 pm

That's a good trailer which makes you think it gives a lot more away than it actually does.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#40 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:11 pm

zedz wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:41 pm
I thought it was a really effective ending. I found it more affecting than
SpoilerShow
the death of the sister, which, to my surprise, hardly landed at all. Am I just callous, or was there something botched about this?
SpoilerShow
This fell flat for me too. I think it was mostly due to a strange presentation that didn’t seem to consider the audience’s perspective: my impression was that the son died (pretty abrasive head wound with extreme bleeding) and the sister did not appear to be fatally wounded (stabbed in the chest but closer to the shoulder it seemed), which became overturned when we see the son emerge as alive. This was surprising and somewhat jarring itself, and then as he catches the audience up to speed in voiceover, he talks about his sister and how he is looking forward to seeing her... but she is suddenly revealed to be dead and by “seeing her” he meant her ashes. I don’t really know what could have been the intention of these narrative choices, but they failed on several levels. It felt like Bong was toying with us in a cheeky black-comedy manner but without any real value and out of step with the dark humor from the rest of the film.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#41 Post by Cde. » Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:13 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
Wed Aug 14, 2019 8:11 pm
zedz wrote:
Tue Aug 13, 2019 4:41 pm
I thought it was a really effective ending. I found it more affecting than
SpoilerShow
the death of the sister, which, to my surprise, hardly landed at all. Am I just callous, or was there something botched about this?
SpoilerShow
This fell flat for me too. I think it was mostly due to a strange presentation that didn’t seem to consider the audience’s perspective: my impression was that the son died (pretty abrasive head wound with extreme bleeding) and the sister did not appear to be fatally wounded (stabbed in the chest but closer to the shoulder it seemed), which became overturned when we see the son emerge as alive. This was surprising and somewhat jarring itself, and then as he catches the audience up to speed in voiceover, he talks about his sister and how he is looking forward to seeing her... but she is suddenly revealed to be dead and by “seeing her” he meant her ashes. I don’t really know what could have been the intention of these narrative choices, but they failed on several levels. It felt like Bong was toying with us in a cheeky black-comedy manner but without any real value and out of step with the dark humor from the rest of the film.
Have to agree.
SpoilerShow
The rock being dropped onto the already unconscious son's head sealed the deal that he would be dead. The daughter I thought could have survived. Can't help but think that Bong was just toying with the audience by fixating on the injury to the main audience identification figure who was our entry point into the narrative, but he wasn't bold enough to actually go through with killing him off. I think part of the reason why the death of the sister doesn't land is that we've already gone through the shock of the son's 'death'.
Going further I think the poor father stabbing the rich father is too sudden.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#42 Post by swo17 » Fri Aug 16, 2019 11:44 pm

Cde. wrote:
Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:13 am
SpoilerShow
Going further I think the poor father stabbing the rich father is too sudden.
SpoilerShow
This is the one death that's definitely well set up, if a bit on the nose. He's just witnessed an attack on his whole family so he has nothing left to lose, and the rich dad has literally held his nose at Mr. Kim one time too many. This disparaging gesture is a shortcut since this is a movie and could probably feel more earned or authentic with the runtime of a TV series.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#43 Post by zedz » Sun Aug 18, 2019 3:50 pm

swo17 wrote:
Fri Aug 16, 2019 11:44 pm
Cde. wrote:
Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:13 am
SpoilerShow
Going further I think the poor father stabbing the rich father is too sudden.
SpoilerShow
This is the one death that's definitely well set up, if a bit on the nose. He's just witnessed an attack on his whole family so he has nothing left to lose, and the rich dad has literally held his nose at Mr. Kim one time too many. This disparaging gesture is a shortcut since this is a movie and could probably feel more earned or authentic with the runtime of a TV series.
SpoilerShow
I didn't have any issue with that either, even though it's the kind of rash action that would be an obvious bad decision at a less fraught time. For me, the primary motivation was the rich father, and everybody else at the party, rallying around the rich son, while nobody but himself was worried about his daughter, who had been fatally stabbed. And the rich father even orders him around (the car keys) as he's holding his dying daughter. It's an almost too tidily emblematic moment - like the flood had been - but it's one that's true to the characters. The father of the house might be callous, but he's also genuinely concerned about his son.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#44 Post by dda1996a » Sun Aug 18, 2019 4:17 pm

All those things sadly kept the movie from truly becoming the brilliant movie it is being hailed as. It's just too perfectly set-up that keeps me a bit distanced from loving this film. Only exception: the ending, which as been noted here, was well set-up

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#45 Post by swo17 » Sun Aug 18, 2019 4:26 pm

Good observations, zedz

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#46 Post by hearthesilence » Sat Oct 12, 2019 10:33 pm

I was wary going in, but this really did feel like Bong's best film for me and certainly one of the best of the year. The last film I saw from him was Snowpiercer, which felt like an entertaining, earnest film with an unsubtle approach to rather broad ideas. In a lot of ways, he hasn't deviated from that approach - the storytelling is tidy and very direct. But the context in which he places these ideas made them resonate a whole lot more, and ultimately what's evoked by the narrative is far more subtle and sophisticated than the actual plot details themselves.
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It's been suggested that it's too on-the-nose for the lower-class to be swamped by overflowing sewage while the upper-class is protected on higher ground. (Not a far-fetched scenario either, partly because the higher geographic location of those with far more over those with a lot less plays out this way in many cities around the world.) What resonated wasn't the scene as it played out, but what came after - how the Park family and their peers (and when you think about it, those with the most influence on people and society) can move on comfortably with their lives. If you took the following scene out of context, it wouldn't seem remarkable, but coming after the flood scenes it suggests a lot - how easy it is for anyone with this social status to be comfortable and isolated from the catastrophes in their own city.

The ending was especially poignant for me. From the start, it was obvious that so much of it was fantasy/dreaming as it unfolded because how can it be real? If it were that easy to get rich, that poor urban neighborhood would be a lot less crowded (unless you truly believed they were poor by choice). But then again, that's kind of the "American Dream" in a nutshell - that anyone smart, willing and hardworking can pull themselves out of poverty to better fortunes. On some level, that's the belief and aspiration that's sold to most people in free, capitalist societies. But it's as much of a pipe dream there as it is being portrayed for Ki-woo - and sadly despite this, I think for a lot of people, the hope that a better life can be possible is also as strong.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#47 Post by mfunk9786 » Sat Oct 12, 2019 11:07 pm

Reminder that this is a movie rolling out slowly nationwide, so spoiler tags will be greatly appreciated by your fellow forum users!

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#48 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:07 am

I liked this a lot, but while I enjoyed reading the thoughts above, did anyone think re: the film's climax:
SpoilerShow
that it didn't quite go far enough? All those party attendees framed in the picture window led me to believe that the events of the party would be much more combustible and cathartic considering what had come before. Perhaps I just have chronic Tarantino disorder.

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#49 Post by dda1996a » Sun Oct 20, 2019 3:18 am

I liked where the film arrived at the end, but I did find it very dissapointing vis-a-vis everything that happened in the scene you mentioned which felt rather forced

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Re: Parasite (Bong Joon-Ho, 2019)

#50 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Oct 20, 2019 3:24 am

mfunk9786 wrote:
Sun Oct 20, 2019 2:07 am
I liked this a lot, but while I enjoyed reading the thoughts above, did anyone think re: the film's climax:
SpoilerShow
that it didn't quite go far enough? All those party attendees framed in the picture window led me to believe that the events of the party would be much more combustible and cathartic considering what had come before. Perhaps I just have chronic Tarantino disorder.
SpoilerShow
I was itching for a similar catharsis, though the restraint definitely served a purpose. Bong was trying to channel Chabrol pretty hard here, at least thematically, and by containing the violence he allowed for a sobering moment that was intense but with an objective retreat, resisting the explosion of carnage that may have minimized the ‘reality’ of the classist themes. My problem with the choice is that the entire film was so fantastical and subjective in its liberal use of cinematic escapism from technique and narrative, that this ‘sobering’ effect didn’t feel earned, and the film seemed more fitting for that uninhibited Tarantino-esque catharsis based on its tone. I respect what Bong was trying to do, and I really loved the first half, but the last act just felt out of place in the context of the vibe he was so colorfully broadcasting.

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