An impoverished family’s resourcefulness leads them to events spiralling catastrophically out of their control.

By Claire Bueno

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the definition of parasite is ‘an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense.’ Here lies the crux of Bong Joon Ho’s scintillating and sophisticated story of an impoverished Korean family, whose manipulation and resourcefulness will ignite a spiral of events that will leave you with nothing but admiration for a unique filmmaker’s aptitude for compelling storytelling.

Living in absolute squalor the Kim family may not have much, but they do have each other. Their basement flat is dank, dingy with barely enough room to swing a mouse, let alone a cat. Food is scarce, but they are bountiful in love and solidarity as a family.

With the help and artistic expertise of his sister, Ki Woo (Woo-sik Choi) armed with falsified qualifications unexpectedly lands a part time job home teaching English to a wealthy teenage girl, whose mother and head of the house is impressionable and easy exploitable. Recognising this, within no time at all the conniving family wheedle their way into gainful employment. All is well until one fateful rainy evening when an unexpected visitor arrives on the doorstep of the opulent home and kicks up a right storm! Actions have consequences, and as the story unfolds there is a price to pay for their ‘enterprising’ behaviour.

It is no wonder why the film won four Oscars and two BAFTAs. Parasite’s originality, richly written, precisely executed characters were a joy to watch.

It would be very easy to villainise the roguish behaviour of the Kim family, however Bong Joon Ho carves three dimensional colourful characters by creating simple scenes which really humanises them.

The artful use of light truly immerses the audience into the polarising worlds of extreme poverty and wealth, which felt very authentic.

“You know what kind of plan never fails,” retrospectively says Kim Ki-taek, father of the Kim family. “No plan at all.” But on this occasion I do urge you to make a plan and feast on the outstanding Parasite.