WatchSeeLookView (Oscar Season) - Parasite

A little bit of clarification about which films I’ll discuss under the banner of “Oscar Season”. Anything that’s been nominated for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay (Original & Adapted), Actor (Main & Supporting), Actress (Main & Supporting) and Documentary, Animated and International Features; to be fair, that only leaves a couple not included on the list but you’ve got to draw a line somewhere, I reckon. Let’s talk about one previously mentioned briefly as part of the end of year round-up and give it a bit more detail this time round...

Parasite (2019)
Dir. Bong Joon-Ho / Dur. 132 mins
In A Nutshell:- An impoverished family gradually begins to con its way into the life of a more affluent family.

The Good:- Parasite is one of those films that it is best to come in to cold. The less you know about it, the more enjoyable it is. I knew literally nothing before I started watching it and was completely drawn in by it. I’d watched Bong’s previous film The Host which is very much a tribute to old-fashioned monster films (with a satirical edge) but this is not in a similar genre at all (except for maybe the satirical edge). It does have a similar sense of energy and inventiveness about it but that is where the similarities end. The cast are strong, in particular Song Kang-ho who has appeared in a few of Bong’s previous films as well as a couple of Park Chan-wook’s (most notably the lead in Sympathy For Mr Vengeance). It’s funny, it looks great, it goes to very strange places and it makes a point without being preachy about it.

The Bad:- I genuinely can't think of anything that I didn't enjoy about this one.

The Verdict:- Oftentimes, I see a film cropping up on a lot of “best of year” lists and am slightly baffled as to why people are raving about it so much. This is not one of those films. I get why it’s up there and second it for my own list (well, as I did the other week anyway). If you're looking for an Oscar nominated film that isn’t one of the standard “ah yeah, they were definitely hoping for an Oscar with this one” films that you get every year, give this one a go.