Wednesday, December 18, 2019

guess I better watch "Parasite"

It's a big, live topic in the office these days, mainly because a gyopo coworker has been puffed up with Korean pride: "Parasite," a social-commentary-laden drama about bloodsuckers* directed by Bong Joon-ho, is up for (and has already won) many, many film awards, and it was recently nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best International Feature Film. Some might grumble that this is an injustice, given that the Academy has nominated foreign films for Best Picture before (e.g., "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which should have won over the far inferior "Gladiator" in 2000; instead, "Tiger" won Best Foreign Film).

I've ordered the film via iTunes, and it'll be arriving on my computer this coming mid-January, so I guess I'll see it then. I've seen a review on YouTube by my go-to guy Chris Stuckmann, who raved about the film and gave it an enthusiastic "A+" grade.



*It's tempting to say "gold-digging bloodsuckers," but from what I've heard, the neediness/compulsion runs both ways in the story, with the poor family sucking the life out of the rich family and vice versa, and with some sort of "rival parasite" trying to muscle in on the poor family as the long con continues. Is this impression correct? Let me know.



2 comments:

Charles said...

It's hard to quantify the correctness of your impression without saying too much about the film, but I will say that it does not ring true for me. Possibly because a focus on bloodsuckers seems like a focus on the wrong thing? Hard to say. Also, *mumble mumble* plot stuff *mumble*.

I'll say more after you've watched the film.

Kevin Kim said...

Until January, then!