Such mature and free personal expression must be the result of years of creation and accumulation, and it is also inseparable from the support of the entire system. The jury headed by Inaritu awarded Palme d’Or to "Parasite", undoubtedly an affirmation of the quality and intrinsic value of the film itself, and this result also showed the world the great success of the Korean film industry and system.
Manual reminder: The [brackets] part is strongly not recommended to read before watching the movie, and the other parts have slight plot disclosures, the extent of which is approximately equal to the trailer
On the 25th of this month, the film "Parasite" directed by Korean director Bong Joon-ho won unanimous praise from the jury of the main competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, and finally won the Palme d’Or. This is the first time that a Korean film has won the world’s most gold-rich movie trophy. It also means that Asian films have reached the top for two consecutive years. South Korean President Moon Jae-in also congratulated Bong Joon-ho's crew for the first time, saying that the award for the film is a century of Korean film and it is of great significance. At present, it seems that "Parasite", which will be opened in South Korea on May 30, is very likely to surpass "Ningliang Sea Battle" and become the No. 1 box office in Korean film history.
The film revolves around a family of four living in a semi-basement: two parents are unemployed people, a pair of children also drop out of school, and the only income for the four is the meager reward for folding boxes for the pizza shop. Until one day, his son Ki Woo (played by Choi Woo Sik) was introduced by a friend who was about to study abroad to the home of the wealthy President Park (played by Lee Sun Kyun) to teach English for his daughter. As a result, everyone's fate has changed drastically. .
This time, Bong Joon-ho slyly chose the title of the film as "Parasite", which seems to be intentionally or unintentionally connected with the previous film "Han River Monster" (the English name of the film "The Host" is both It has the meaning of monster and host), which makes people mistakenly think that this will be a similar monster/sci-fi movie, especially the scene of street disinfection at the beginning, which is almost a huge trap specially set for fans of Feng Junhao ". However, the whole story did not develop as the fans expected. Instead, it embarked on a path that is close to "Memories of Murder" but has nothing to do with science fiction, monsters, disasters and other types and themes that Feng Junhao is good at: Seeing that the hostess of the rich family (played by Zhao Ruzhen) is indeed as "innocent and simple" as my friend said, Ji Woo secretly plans to let his sister come to the son of this rich family for "art therapy". It was only then that the audience suddenly realized that the so-called "parasites" did not have any catastrophic color, but rather a vivid metaphor of the poor families being completely dependent on the rich ones.
With the gradual development of the "parasitic" project, Ji Woo's father, Ji Ze (Song Kanghao) replaced the original driver of the rich family, and his mother (Jang Huizhen) also replaced the original maid. Set up various puzzles and play the host and hostess between the palms of the hands. Here, the absolute rich and poor have not changed, but the power between the rich and the poor has been transferred or even inverted: the Keize family has become the actual controller of the rich family. Although this control is extremely fragile, it has reached a consensus. This delicate balance, fragile relationship and structure also provide unlimited possibilities for the further development of the plot and see-saw.
The whole film is basically unfolded in two main spaces: one is the semi-basement of the Kize family, the other is the high-end mansion of President Park, the former is in the lower city, and the latter is in the upper city. Feng Junhao, who has a background in sociology, clearly knows the structure and meaning of urban space. In order to show this contrast between top and bottom, the director also used a lot of lifting shots. These shots often shift from bright and transparent to dark and hidden. Similar scene scheduling and shot editing very intuitively show the phenomenon of class differentiation in Korean society. In one of the most sad passages in the film, under the downpour, the Kize family returned to their home in the lower city from the mansion in the upper city, and found that their semi-basement was almost completely flooded by rain, and the toilet flushed out dirty. Heishui, at this moment, the rich man looked for excitement, propped up a tent purchased by the United States in the open air in the mansion courtyard and fell asleep peacefully. For Feng Junhao, "lower strata" is not only a literary rhetoric, but also a lack of dignity closely related to the location of the city and the living environment.
[[[Of course, if you observe more closely, you will find that the interior space of a mansion is not homogeneous, and it is divided into two parts, the ground and the underground. The "underground" mentioned here is quite different from the "semi-underground" of the Keize family, because the latter has at least half of the windows that can transmit light, while the former is completely invisible and hopeless. The cruelty of the film lies in the fact that when the Kize family tried every means to fight for wealth, resources and rights, conflicts inevitably broke out, but Kize "fallen" into the darker basement of the mansion, and even lost it. "Parasitic" opportunity. He can only wait for his son to reach the "plan" to rescue him, but this rescue is not only a distant future, and no one can guarantee that Ji Woo will not face the same dilemma as his father-in short, the hope of a class jump is extremely slim , Almost impossible. This is probably also the deepest and most pessimistic criticism of Korean social division in Bong Joon-ho's career.
In addition to social connotations, the basement has also been smeared with a hidden political background by Feng Junhao: First, the original intention of the basement design itself is to prevent the hot war between the North and the South, and the former maid's parody of the North Korean female broadcast also clearly refers to it. The delicate North-South relationship. Secondly, unlike the open space upstairs, the basement of the mansion is composed of corridors and passages, and its internal structure is easily reminiscent of the tunnels secretly excavated by North Korea for the secret attack on South Korea. Finally, in terms of color design, the dark green basement gives people a strong hint of horror, which not only fits perfectly with the plot that takes place in the space, but also reflects the trauma that the North Korean regime has brought to the Korean people on a spiritual and psychological level. 】】】
If last year’s "The Thieves Family" was awarded, to a large extent, it was due to the jury chairman Cate Blanchett’s favor for the high-level performances of Japanese actors such as Sakura Ando, then he has five winners for this Cannes Film Festival. As far as the jury of the world's top authors and directors is concerned, the level of the director is the key to whether a film can get Palme d'Or. The strong commercial and public attributes have not erased "Parasite"'s extremely high pursuit of audiovisual and technical standards. In fact, Feng Junhao not only effectively constructs a hierarchical space in the film, but can also carry out complexities in it. Two-line or multi-line narrative; not only can smoothly carry out complex narratives, but also can carry out meaningful matching editing according to special situations, such as juxtaposing the cloakroom of the rich mistress and the scene of distributing disaster relief clothes in the gymnasium. In contrast, the interweaving and opposition between family destiny was immediately highlighted, and the cruel living situation was greatly strengthened.
At the same time, "Parasite" uses the sound and picture relationship extremely delicately. Through opposition and dislocation, Feng Junhao can often bring content contrast and delay, thereby revealing a deeper meaning. 【【【The most obvious treatment is the end. The son’s voiceover of the letter reading and his fantasy combine to give people the illusion that the plan has been achieved, but in fact, the true meaning of this scene has been greatly delayed, thus Created a huge contrast. 】】】It can be said that every huge psychological impact that "Parasite" brings to the audience is closely related to its audiovisual language. Its skillful use of various film techniques is matched with the natural and vivid interpretation of the two generations of Korean actors and actresses ( "National Movie King" Song Kanghao contributed a lot), making the film almost surpassed any feature film and genre film in recent years, becoming a "visual music" that is sometimes humorous and sometimes solemn, sometimes bitter and extremely cruel. Of course, the music itself is also a highlight. The composer Zheng Zairi has created a series of gorgeous and gorgeous baroque music. The melody and dazzling editing complement each other, and jointly stir the nerves of the viewers, making the whole film a can make A feast for the National People's Congress—In fact, the movie "Parasite" is nothing more than a moving opera, an overall artwork that is enough to make people's blood.
All in all, "Parasite" may be the most complicated audiovisual work and the most complicated textual rhetoric in Feng Junhao's career. Its use of several simple images has already formed a complete and fluid system. From the beginning of the film, his son Jiyu pointedly pointed out that the whole rockery bonsai given to him by his classmates was “metaphorical”. The repeated repetition of this statement certainly formed a joke in the film. But the fact is true: the stone is a flashy decoration, a burden that the son cannot get rid of, and a tool for murder... Although the function of the stone in the film has been changing, one thing has not changed, and that is the meaning of the stone. The firm "plan" of the Keize family can even say that this stone is a totem for the poor to pursue their dreams. This seemingly rock-solid sense of stability (interestingly, this stone is not only a "rockery", but the texture itself is not rocky: it can rise to the surface without causing much damage to the head) and often Being hit by running water, from a drunk's urine in a semi-basement, to a torrential rain, can ruin the plan. Here, Feng Junhao is undoubtedly hinting to us through such a weighty concept that the solidification of the class and the hopelessness of rising. If the "Burning" that astounded Cannes last year is "the fury of fire", Feng Junhao's " "Parasite" is "the weight of the stone".
In addition, Feng Junhao boldly introduced the description of "smell" in the film, although the sense of smell can be said to be a blind spot in the audiovisual art of film. The whole film mentions many times that there is a smell on the Kize family, which is a kind of "basement smell", a kind of "smell that only people who take the subway can have." Although the smell is intangible, it is the knot of Kize’s heart that cannot be ignored. It is the last straw that crushes his father’s Kize. It is an important aspect of social discrimination. It is an invisible label that shows social status and identity. It is a difference that is difficult to smooth out. And scars. In the controversy of the three-state elements of solid, liquid and gas, the film quickly moved to a climax and ending, and huge helplessness and pain came immediately, and the audience was enough to experience the real "such as" in the overlap of these elements. Dreamy bubbles, like dew, like electricity"...
It is interesting to note that Bong Joon-ho did not point out the specific name of the city where the story took place in the film, which makes "Parasite" capable of becoming a political and social fable that transcends South Korea and has universal significance. Regarding this point, the author is by no means far-fetched. In fact, the overall design of Indian clothing and equipment in the film (1. The equipment was purchased from the United States; 2. The boss called "Indian resistance" when explaining the game to Kize; 3. Keize killed the boss with Indian equipment), which itself points to the black history of American racial conflicts and the massacre of Indians, enough to make the film transcend class reference and reach the "parasitic" of human society for thousands of years. And against the motif. We can think of this movie as an extension of the dystopian issues discussed in "Snow Country Train" and "Yuzi", a variation on social issue films such as "Memories of Murder" and "Han River Monster", and a "Mother" that focuses on parent-child relationships. "The sister of "-can even be said to be the sum and crystallization of all Bong Joon-ho's movies.
Although he has always been dubbed the title of "genre film director", the techniques and genres used by Feng Junhao have always been fusion and changeable. As he himself said, "Parasite" is both a crime film, a comedy, a suspense thriller, and a sad humanity drama. All the characters in "Parasite" are highly complex and ambiguous. Whether rich or poor, they are not purely majestic, fake, evil, and ugly. They always wander in the gray area, occasionally crossing the boundary in order to survive, sometimes cheering and repenting. It is precisely because of this that everyone can find resonance, find themselves, and find the most painful human condition. In the end, we have to say that Bong Junhao did not become a master through type, but on the contrary-all types broke away from the routine through the hands of Bong Junhao and reached the reality of the other side.
08.09 Simple update of some data and short comments:
-The number of movie viewers reached 10.06 million, which is one-fifth of the population of South Korea. It is the 19th local movie in South Korea with the number of viewers exceeding 10 million.
-Rotten Tomatoes Index 100, Metacritic Index 89/100
-NAVER expert index 9.06/10 (16 experts), audience index 9.07/10 (7092 people)
2019 semi-underground roaming
A bird's-eye view of class consciousness that is so tragic
The black humor that hits you directly, the pain will last for a long time
The experience of this movie makes the distinction between artistic and commercial genres meaningless
In "Snow Country Train", the passengers at the end of the carriage at least have the ability to fight for the front, while the people in "Parasite" are not able to fight for ascent. What is pervasive here is the atmosphere of the era where even the will to ascend is deprived. . Through the gap between the ground and the underground, the class nature is nakedly emphasized, and the characters who live in various contradictions reflect the Korean society itself. Looking at the disharmony of families of different classes colliding with each other, I smiled and found that the mouth was full of bitterness——Li Zhihui (Korean film critic) 4.5/5
The traces of poverty that could not be concealed became an aura that could not be concealed. The semi-underground life was full of the desire to rise in identity and the terror of falling down. Because I can't share the happiness in my hands, the gap between each other has become wider. The film is about dreams that cannot be achieved, bringing miserable fear to the audience. The performance of the characters is extremely full in every frame, and the audience can only follow the unpredictable narrative and the eerie humor and laugh. Even if all hidden symbols and meanings are excluded, it is still enough for people to enjoy the beauty of the movie itself. I feel lucky to be in the same era as this movie——Shen Kyuhan (Korean film critic) 4.5/5
Gradually feel the "pleasant tremor"-Park Pyeong-sik (transliteration, South Korean film critic, for the first time in seven years, he scored 8 points for a Korean movie and never gave a perfect score of 10 points) 8/10
"Parasite" is like the masterpieces "Memories of Murder", "Han River Monster" and "Mother". It is a great movie that is anxious, unpredictable, neurotic and full of uncertainty. —— French "Cinema Manual" AlloCiné 5/5
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