Parasite (2019)

I don't normally put off Best Picture Oscar winners. My main reason for doing so this time was that it sounded thrilling enough for me to reserve for October. On further reflection, it hardly seemed a horror. By then, I had to wait out the Netflix disc availability lag.

In modern South Korea, the impoverished Kim family discovers a golden opportunity to become servants -- the father a chauffeur, the mother a housekeeper, the son a tutor, and the daughter an art therapist -- for the affluent Park family. Since the Parks would be unlikely to hire four people they knew to be related, the Kims pose as strangers to each other, in addition to faking their expertise. The charade works masterfully. But when the Parks go on vacation, the Kims discover they're not the only, well, parasitic presence in the mansion. There comes a conflict of interest, and the only perceived way to avoid prosecution involves potentially lethal force.

I'm afraid the few Korean movies I've seen or heard of all get pretty violent. This one doesn't spare the six- to seven-year-old Park boy, Da-song, from witnessing too much. Maybe Korea has an intense culture that way. Maybe only its gritty fare finds success in the U.S. Or maybe the gentler material simply isn't suggested to me because I haven't seen anything like it.

That said, it's hard to think of any film much like this one. The vaguely comedic portion is pretty much limited to the first half, with a rapid foray into drama and thriller territory thereafter. Of all the foreign features I know, this might do the most to defy my genre expectations, and that's saying something.

It's also hard to know just how sorry to feel for the Kims. We can hardly blame them for wanting out of their squalor. They seem to be doing an adequate job for the Parks. But they see fit to surreptitiously get two prior servants unjustly fired. For that, they must pay somehow. And their enemies are no less pitiable. Whatever happens, the ending can't be particularly satisfying. In fact, the main theme the director reportedly had in mind was crushing hope, whether to go from rags to riches or even to get along with the rich.

Probably what I like best is the effort to be Hitchcockian from time to time, including in cinematography. What I like least is the lack of characterization. There's a reason I've mentioned only Da-song by first name: He alone stands out as having a unique personality.

Parasite does not trump 1917 in my book. But as usual, I respect the Academy's decision without it matching my own.