This South Korean movie was so highly praised everywhere that I got really curious - even more so, when initially I couldn't even get the tickets - the avalanche of international awards and six Oscar nominations convinced me even more that this is something I should definitely not miss. While browsing the reviews, I was very careful to read just opinions but absolutely nothing about the plot, because I wanted to enter the cinema like Tabula Rasa and enjoy it without any previous knowledge. Now, I must admit that Asian cinema is for the most part another planet for me - besides giant Akira Kurosawa and completely random but unforgettable black & white "Kuroneko" (1968) I hardly remember seeing anything that I truly enjoyed, partly because in this part of the world this work is less promoted than for example US or European cinematography. Yes, there was occasional Bruce Lee or Japanese horror but if you ask me, I would say "Rashomon" and Japanese horror "Ring" (which was chilling, must admit) - still have to see classic "Tokyo Story". So I went to cinema excited, curious and ready to be blown away - after all, it was a hit on Cannes Film Festival and reviews always insist its on top of "The Best of 2019" lists. Coming from non-English speaking territory, I am all for international cinema and very supportive of various voices from all over the world - in fact, celebrated Mexican "Roma" is still one of my all-time favourites and I genuinely think its one of the best things I have ever seen, right next to famous classics.
Imagine my surprise when immediately I was struck with cartoonish vibe - just like Japanese "Tampopo" (1985) that I saw on insistence of a friend and which turned out to be grotesque over-acting, unfunny and bizarre, actors in this South Korean movie were all bent on making faces, screaming and lifting their eyebrows in the most kabuki-like way (good guys are smiling, bad guys are wearing a moustache). From there it was all downhill for me - so much that I even asked myself is something wrong with me, am I perhaps in a bad mood or preoccupied with my own life so I can't focus on the screen but no if I really enjoy the movie (like I did with "Roma") I have no time to analyse and wonder, if something moves me than I am swept away with the power of it. Unfortunately, the most charitable comment in this case would be - I chuckled occasionally, but for the most part of it I was annoyed. And the only explanation for this is that perhaps I am not used to Asian cinema where the concept of realistic acting seems to be completely alien phenomenon and every message has to be drilled in the viewer's brain without any subtlety. Between all this screaming, shouting and exaggeration there as a story about the class divide, cunning ordinary men (from the gutter) infiltrating wealthy household and taking their revenge but for the life of me I can't say that i enjoyed it, in fact I even started to look at my watch to check when is this darn thing going to finish eventually. What started as dark comedy turns slowly into somber and gloomy drama so I left the cinema not enthralled or happy or excited as with "Roma" but exhausted and worrying what's wrong with me, disliking film that everybody praises.
A few thoughts:
They say that cinema is international language but perhaps Asian cinema is still too distant for me - making faces, screaming, shouting and gobbling noodles all the time is not something I had encounter in a real life. I travelled trough Far East and people I had encountered were mostly very polite & reserved so this cinematic exaggeration is obviously not realistic but designed as a parody.
The idea of "good poor" and "stupid rich" is way too simplistic for me to accept. Yeah, I know, its a comedy but still, the poor family was just nasty and lazy, in fact makes you wonder who is Parasite from the title - living in their squalor, they couldn't even fold the pizza boxes properly to earn at least some money (but the director is quick to point how smart and witty they are) and for the rest of the movie they are secretly stealing from their wealthy employers, portrayed as stupid and gullible. Well, no - I find the poor family nasty, greedy and disliked them immensely. Couldn't side with them as anti-heroes.
The movie goes more than two hours and its draining. At some points its at least amusing and I chuckled here and there, but last half an hour I honestly couldn't wait to get out of there. It really presents a problem for me because I don't like to feel like a prisoner in the cinema and I had the same thing with latest Tarantino. My impression is that critics and reviews are jumping on a bandwagon and praising something exotic because its a thing to do - hey, lets praise the latest movie from Timbuktu and show our superiority by comparing director Choo Choo to director Oompa Oompa and Hee Haw. True, Parasite" is very dense & full of ideas & obviously multi-layered and carefully planned but it left me completely unmoved and curiously distant - in fact, I was actually relieved to finally leave the cinema. Too cartoonish for my taste.
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