Judging from the few short shots in the trailer, "Parasite" is still a typical "Bong Joon-ho" film, with gloomy tones, fast switching shots, and strong reversals in character behavior and plot. , and its theme - depicting the two groups of people who are divided by class to live on the ground and underground, as well as the inevitable failures and painful lessons brought by the "underground" people who want to live "on the ground".
The film depicts the epitome of a typical "underground" family in just ten minutes at the beginning: sending a message to rub the neighbor's wireless network, the family has no job, and only earns meager wages by stacking pizza boxes. , to expel pests in the home with the disinfectant gas sprayed by street disinfection. There are two details here. First, the camera swept a set of awards. My mother used to be the champion of the women's hammer throw. Second, after brother Ki-woo played a video on how to quickly fold pizza boxes, father Kim Ki-taek realized and learned this skill in a very short period of time, reaching the state of being able to fold with his eyes closed. This is obviously a foreshadowing planted by the director. This family is not a lazy person who has nothing to do, and even has some skills in some aspects, but they still live a dark life.
After that, my brother's friend came to visit and brought the family the most crucial prop in this movie - water stone. A friend is tutoring a young lady from a wealthy family. Because he wants to study abroad, he decides to temporarily hand over his work to his brother. The subsequent development of the plot is almost comical. , successfully squeezed out the maid and driver who used to work in a wealthy family, the father took over the driver's position, the mother took over the maid's position, and the younger sister Ji Ting became the family's youngest son's art through fake education. Teacher, at this point in the plot, the Kim family has completely completed the process of "parasitic" in President Park's house.
The scene that left the deepest impression on me was undoubtedly when the host and his family went out to camp, and the Kim family was finally able to lie on the sofa in the living room, listening to music and drinking wine, imagining that they were the owners of the house. , At this time, my mother said something, she said that the cockroaches in the house would escape into the darkness the moment people turn on the light, and at this time they are like these cockroaches, even if they are bathed in the sun, but The imprint of the poor is still deeply etched on their spirits and cannot be erased, just like the smell of the basement permeating every grain of the clothes, which cannot be washed away with even the most advanced washing powder. Poverty is the original sin. Class is a prison.
The turning point of the plot was a heavy rain that night. The maid who was designed to drive away went home and asked her mother to take her to the basement. The biggest suspense in the film was revealed. It turned out that even the owner of this room did not know it existed. In the basement of the house, the husband of the former maid resides. He has nowhere to hide because he owes usurious loans, so he chooses to live here. , the maid's husband is a "senior" older parasite. The conflict erupted when two litters of "parasites" met, both of whom wanted to expel each other from their parasitic family. This is so ironic, the real struggle never happens between the lower and upper layers. The parasites in the lower layers tear each other for the only remaining resources, and the purpose of their tearing is just to become the one and only one. Nest "parasites".
The torrential rain made the host family temporarily cancel the camping and return home. During the rainstorm, the Jin family hurried back to their real home in the basement, which had been flooded with standing water. In one shot, brother Ji Yu stood barefoot on the steps, and the rain continued to pour from the steps. People are like the rain that is destined to flow into the sewers. No matter how high it falls, it always follows the gravity. back to where they were supposed to go. This torrential rain washed away all the disguise of the Jin family, their shrewdness, their ambition, and even their dignity. A poor family who played the rich family around, no external support was needed, everything they worked hard to manage, All it takes is a sudden rainstorm to be washed away. In the shelter, Dad said, "Do you know what plan will never fail? That is, without a plan, life will never follow a plan, and without a plan, there will be no mistakes." But the truth is, the poor have no plans because They can't have plans, their plans are too fragile, too easily destroyed. President Park's family planned to go out camping, but the camping was canceled due to the rainstorm, but the plan will not change, because they have high-quality American tents, they have a large enough courtyard, the rainstorm even brought a romantic meaning , because the next day's rain will make people feel better. When the poor's lives are washed away by this torrential rain, the rich are already preparing for a birthday party.
After watching this scene, I kept having a question in my head, what the hell was Keating thinking when she was sitting on the toilet that kept spraying feces while smoking a cigarette?
"Pretend" is the most crucial word in the film. The water stone is just an ordinary stone in essence, but when it is inlaid on a delicate base and placed in a high-end wooden box, it becomes a symbol of value. Ki-woo carries this stone throughout the film. Initially, the water stone was his stepping stone to the upper class, and because of it, he was able to have the opportunity to ring the doorbell of President Park's house. On the rainy night, Ji Woo rushed back to the basement flooded by the rain. The heavy water stone floated up and was picked up by Ji Woo. Ji Woo said, "It's not that I was holding it, but that it has been haunting me." Shui Shi represents his unquenchable desire, and that moment was the last chance for their family to get out of this tragedy, but Ki Woo chose not to let go. Although in the end, Ji Yu finally put the water stone back into the water and turned it back into an ordinary stone, but the price of putting it down was too painful.
The most frequent scene in the film is the steps up and down, which is also the most intuitive experience of class. Ki-woo came to Park's house through the stairs all the way up, and he had to go downhill to get back to his own house. The movement of the camera also revealed the director's intention. At the end of the film, Ki-woo decided to earn money to buy the Park family's house, so that his father could walk up again and stand under the sun. However, the camera that moved down later showed this. Everything is just his wishful thinking, transitioning from the sunny exterior to the still dark and gloomy interior, the despair revealed by the camera is at a glance. Even if Ki-woo does start earning money to buy a house, how will he make that much money? Are we going to repeat the same mistakes and pretend to deceive?
I think Bong Joon Ho is actually a very cruel person, in "Snowpiercer", in "Okja", including in "Parasite", he created so many images of trying to break the class, and they chose the final There is only one method—violence, but the result is often failure. People at the lower level, who are fighting against the sky and the earth, are only fighting internally at the same level as themselves. Thinking of the ending of "The Next Girl", the maid was hanged in public, hoping to use her own death to punish the treacherous host family, but after a period of time, in the room where she was hanged, the host family was still happy Concerts are held as if nothing has ever happened, and it is true that for those at the top, no matter what happens to the people at the bottom, as long as there is money and means, what happens can be turned into Nothing happened.
In "Parasite", the depiction of the rich and the contradiction between the rich and the poor are deliberately weakened. In fact, all the conflicts in the film themselves have nothing to do with President Park's family. My mother commented on President Park's family, saying that they are kind because they are rich. Children from rich families don't even have wrinkles on their clothes. Money is an iron, and everything is ironed. This is the innocence of the poor, and it is also the reason why Dad finally chose to stab President Park, because rich people are not soft cloth products, they are steel plates, cold and hard, they look impeccable and cannot be easily approached.
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