skjam

Parasite (2019) dir. Bong Joon-ho

When we first meet the Kim family of Seoul, South Korea, they're living in a cramped, insect-infested basement apartment. No one currently has a paying job, so they're having to steal wi-fi from the neighbors to try to get any quick temp assignments they can, like folding pizza boxes for a day. Ki Woo (Choi Woo-sik), the eldest son, wasn't able to get into college despite his good English skills, and wasn't able to turn his mandatory military service into a lasting career. However, his school friend Min (Park Seo-joon), who did get into a good university, drops by and offers Ki Woo a tempting job opportunity.

Min has been the English tutor to wealthy high school girl Park Da Hye (Jung Ji-so) for a while, but is headed overseas for further study. He rather fancies Da Hye and plans to court her once she is also an adult, so doesn't want to turn her tutoring over to some other fellow he can't trust. With his excellent English skills and trustworthiness, Ki Woo is someone Min thinks can do the job properly. Problem! Ki Woo doesn't have any of the qualifying documents or references. Min suggests just lying--Park mother Yeon Kyo (Cho Yeo-jeong) is not the brightest and is easily fooled.

Ki Woo's artistic but kind of lazy sister Ki Jung (Park So-dam) whips him up some fake documents to make it look like he went to a good school. Yeon Kyo is mildly buzzed during the job interview and sure enough doesn't notice anything wrong. She also gives him the Western name "Kevin" as English tutors use such names and it sounds classier to her. Yeon Kyo does oversee the first lesson, and Ki Woo demonstrates that he's actually pretty good at tutoring. She happens to mention that her young son Da Song (Jung Hyun-jun) needs a new art tutor as the extremely active boy keeps driving them off.

This gives an opportunity for Ki Woo to introduce Ki Jung as "Jessica", a friend of a friend who's Korean-American and went to art school in Chicago. Ki Jung does a quick wiki search on "art therapy" and bullshits her way through the interview, but does catch that Da Song is working through some trauma and bonds with the boy. She also realizes that this scam can be extended to get her parents employed as well.

Driver Yoon (Park Keun-rok) is easily framed to get him replaced by Kim patriarch Ki Taek (Song Kang-ho), who among his many short-lived previous jobs has picked up excellent driving skills. Housekeeper Moon Gwang (Lee Jeong-eun) is harder to dislodge, as she came with the house (the original owner was also the designer, famed architect Namgoong.) It takes discovering a secret weakness to get her replaced by the Kim mother, Chung Sook (Jang Hye-jin), a former athlete and also a good cook. At last, the entire family is making good money!

However, the Namgoong house has a dark secret hidden within its walls, and the Kim family are about to reap the consequences of their actions.

This contemporary thriller won Best Picture at the Oscars, the first time a foreign-language film had ever done so. It has darkly comedic moments before the full reveal of what's going on and the horrific climax.

The movie leans heavily into social commentary. For example, the Kim family has decently good clothing for job seeking, as many poor people do, but their substandard living conditions have given them a distinct scent that marks them apart from the rich Park family. Once Park father Dong-ik (Lee Sun-kyun) notices it, he can't stop commenting on the smell, not noticing how this is getting under the skin of Ki Taek.

And despite their wealth and social status, the Park family isn't a very happy one. They're estranged from each other in various ways, so it's easy for the Kim family to fill emotional needs for them. It's not that the Parks are evil, or even particularly mean, but they are thoughtless and insensitive, especially Dong-ik.

The movie is shot well, with sets designed to symbolize the themes of social difference and division, and how poverty "flows downhill." The acting is skillful enough to overcome the language barrier even for those not used to subtitles.

At first, it doesn't seem like the Kim family's plans are all that bad. They're good at the jobs they're applying for, and scamming rich people in return for actual value can come off as an objectively funny crime. But depriving other people of jobs hurts them (Ki Woo and Ki Taek have a brief moment of conscience over the fate of Driver Yoon), and there is more at stake than they initially realize. Their greed gets people killed.

Content note: Gory violence, some fatal. There's on-screen but clothed sex. Ki Woo and Da Hye are attracted to each other--he's an adult and she's a minor, though Ki Woo (and Min) state that he's going to wait until she's out of high school before going further. A person's allergies are deliberately triggered. Classism. Usage of Native American stereotypes. Sewage erupts through a toilet. Some rough language. This is definitely an "R" movie.

Overall: This is very different from the other Best Pictures I've watched this month which gives it extra punch. Bong is a good director, and I like all the movies I've seen of his. Most recommended to thriller fans with strong literacy so they can follow the subtitles.

Volcano High (2001) dir. Tae-gyun Kim

Kim Keyong-Su (Jang Hyuk) has been expelled from nine schools for trouble-making. It's not so much that he goes looking for trouble, as that he's always targeted by jerks who want to pick on him, and he winds up using his superhuman powers in response. Kim got them in an accident involving lightning and eels as a small child, and has always considered his abilities a curse. So he's determined that at his tenth school, Volcano High, he's going to keep his head down and stay out of trouble.

Circumstances are about to keep Kim from achieving that goal. Head of the weightlifting team, "Dark Ox" Jang Ryang (not his birth name which is silly-sounding in Korean) (Soo-Ro Kim) is conspiring with Vice Principal Jang Hak-Sa (Byun Hee-Bong) to acquire the Secret Manuscript, a mystic writing said to give those who master it great power. To do so, they arrange for the principal to drink poisoned tea and frame top student Song Hak-Rim (Sang-Woo Kwon) for the attempted murder. With Hak-Rim out of the way, Jang Ryang moves to establish himself as top dog among the students, and to woo "Icy Jade" Yu Chae-I (Shin Min-A), captain of the kendo team.

The students have so much freedom of movement as the educational administration was weakened by the Great Teacher War some years before. Vice Principal Jang was on the losing side in that war, and would dearly love to bring back the strict discipline of yore. In order to bring this about, he summons the School Five, "teachers" who specialize in breaking the wills of delinquents. The Five are led by Mr. Ma (Joon-Ho Huh), who has a personal grudge against Kim.

Because of Kim's powers and reputation, he's the subject of attacks and recruitment attempts by multiple parties, and eventually must step up to his full potential to save the day.

Good: Excellent action scenes, decent acting, a good soundtrack.

Less good: Various plot points really need a familiarity with the Korean school system to fully grasp, and others are poorly explained. I could have done without the fart humor. Some of the actors for minor characters feel like they're phoning it in.

I watched both the Korean original and the "MTV Cut" which has prominent rap and hip-hop artists do the majority of the English dub, and a new hip-hop style background music soundtrack. I'm happy to say that such notables as Andre 3000, Snoop Dogg and Method Man do an excellent job with the dialogue they're given. The MTV Cut is about half an hour shorter, eliminates the Secret Manuscript subplot, does not have Dark Ox and the Vice Principal working together, and moves a particularly bizarre character to being a fantasy sequence. It also has voiceover narration that explains plot points more clearly than the Korean version.

If watching the Korean version, be sure to stay for the end credits, which tie up a couple of subplots.

Content note: Martial arts violence, some bloody. Underage drinking. Bullying, both by students and teachers. One pantyshot, rather more male nudity (from the rear.) Senior high students on up should be okay.

Overall: I recommend watching both, if you can find both, as it's an excellent example of adaptation to a very different audience.