Rarely has a movie felt this relentlessly tense and aggressively intelligent.
Premiere in festivals in late 2019, Parasite arrived in cinemas here in February 2020, right around the time it was defeating new films by Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes and Todd Phillips at the Academy Awards.
Directed and co-written by Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer, The Host), Parasite tells the story of two families, one poor but full of street smarts (the Kims), and the other a vision of aspirational wealth (the Parks). When the Kims slowly begin to infiltrate the Parks' lives, and then their home, fronting as tutors, chauffeurs and therapists, an unhealthy symbiotic relationship begins to develop between the two families.
Things take a turn for the worst for everyone involved when an unexpected interloper invades the tenuously balanced relationship inside the gorgeously designed South Korean mansion...
If you've never seen Parasite, we really can't recommend it enough
Upon release in cinemas in 2019, Parasite become the fourth biggest non-English language movie in US box office history, going on to bank over $262 million worldwide. The film was also nominated for six Oscars, going on to win four of them, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Picture.
Critics absolutely loved the movie, scoring 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, and in the years since its release, it has been consistently listed as one of - if not named the - best movies of the 21st century so far.
Los Angeles Times - "Parasite begins in exhilaration and ends in devastation, but the triumph of the movie is that it fully lives and breathes at every moment, even when you might find yourself struggling to exhale."
Time Out - "It’s rare for a movie to combine cinematic fireworks and social commentary in quite the thrilling and mischievous way that Korean director Bong Joon-ho manages with Parasite."
The New York Times - "Bong’s command of the medium is thrilling. He likes to move the camera, sometimes just to nudge your attention from where you think it should be, but always in concert with his restlessly inventive staging."
Parasite arrives on Netflix on Thursday 2 November.
