1125. Parasite

Parasite

2019
Directed by Bong Joon-ho

This was pretty much a shoo-in for the updated edition and it's easy to see why. This movie is so damn good that it even persuades Americans to watch a movie with subtitles, which is no mean feat.

The Kim family lives in a crowded basement apartment and fold pizza boxes to make ends meet. The son, Ki-woo poses as a university student in order to get a job tutoring Da-hye, the daughter of the wealthy Park family. The Kim family slowly and insidiously recommend each other as highly qualified servants until they are all employed by the Parks. I'll stop there, as I like to remain a spoiler free zone and this movie makes it difficult not to give too much away.

Perhaps Parasite doesn't qualify as a horror movie in the strictest sense, but it does what great horror movies do: tell an unsettling story while providing social commentary in an unobtrusive way. Korean movies in general are very occupied by class, and it was interesting to see this given a horror movie context.

It might be more accurate to label this a black comedy, and the humor of the story makes it hard not to root for the Kims. The movie really builds to a satisfying and unexpected (to me at least) ending. Definitely deserving of its Best Picture win.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

12th film to be nominated for Best Picture without being nominated for any acting categories.

The Parks' house was built from scratch for the movie.

995. Gwoemul

Gwoemul
The Host
2006
Directed by Bong Joon-ho

We really haven't had a decent horror film on this List since The Blair Witch Project.  While I would hardly classify this is as scary, it was nice to get a taste of the genre again.  I have been really scraping the bottom of the barrel with Netflix Horror lately.

An American military pathologist orders his Korean assistant to dump 200 bottles of formaldehyde into the Han River.  Naturally, this creates a giant hell beast that begins attacking people.  Park Gang-du is delivering food from a snack bar owned by him and his father when the monster attacks, carrying away his young daughter, Hyun-seo.  The South Korean government and the American military quarantine the survivors of the attack, claiming that the monster is the host of some terrible disease.  When Gang-du and his family learn that his daughter is still alive, the family resolves to escape from the quarantine and save Hyun-seo.

I am not sure that I could justify calling this special or a must see.  It was certainly entertaining and tense, and the creature looked great.  Still, I must admit there is nothing truly remarkable about this film.  I suppose it makes an interesting political statement about the general shittiness of US foreign policies and environmental disasters.  But does that mean it deserves a place on this List?  I'm not sure.

In any case, I have to give it four stars for pure enjoyability.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Highest grossing South Korean film of all time.