Parasite

The Koreans pulled this off in all aspects. The humor that accompanies the film is edgy and the viewer easily gets caught up in the internal strife. Should we hate them or love them? Should we wish them well or condemn them? Either way, I haven't seen a script this masterful in a long time. The acting was superb, the cast was every bit as good, and the soundtrack bumped the experience up a notch. 5 stars. (01/09/2019)

Unfortunately I can't go with the flow. I totally acknowledge that the film is well made. The cinematography was for me the best part of the whole movie. But the rest of it... tone deaf? Because I didn't find it funny. I don't like it when people get tricked like that, and here it escalated to unfortunate heights for my taste. Not to mention the ending, which was to be expected from a certain point on. I don't think it was anything innovative. I don't think it deserves so much attention, but the film obviously came at the right time in the right place. Mostly I also thought it was too long. It didn't feel like 132 minutes, it felt like three days. I guess I need to establish some sort of rapport with the characters, I need someone to at least be likeable; it didn't happen here. I couldn't even sympathize with them, nothing. Cold. Maybe it was meant to be, in which case it's a completely unsatisfying film for me. Great cinematography, good cast, but a totally cranky Ziza. (30/11/2019)

Bong’s brilliance consists in the fact that he is able to approach a complexly caustic and, at the same time, excruciatingly empathetic image of society as an extremely rewarding film that draws the audience in with a suspensefully initiated and superbly escalating premise. And above that, it elicits amazement through its precise directing and the sophisticated staging and camerawork of the individual sequences. (10/04/2023)

In the field of social satire and black comedy, this is a one-hundred-percent success. In terms of other genres, it is at least ambitious and surprising at every turn. However, what I really enjoyed was not knowing where it could go or what direction it would take. Even now I can't decide whether the catharsis was bold or just excessive. As is customary in Korean hits, as the number of surprises increases, so do the moments with such a high WTF factor that the line between a smile and a raised eyebrow is almost blurred. However, Parasite has become embedded in me with its mood and aftershocks (especially thanks to the strength of the narrated ending), remaining true to its name quite effectively. (16/10/2019)

In Parasite, the South Koreans twist human emotions and create a premise just as absurd and obscure as when Rammstein were singing about that Austrian guy who kidnapped Natascha Kampusch and held her in his cellar for more than ten years. Moreover, they do it with dangerously dark humor, which I don’t even know whether it’s funny at all, because it makes me gape at the screen rather than laugh. In the context of South Korean cinematography, however, this is a unique gem that has no match. (05/02/2020)