On my forays to Melbourne, I don’t often re-watch a film at the cinema – so many new films, so little time – but Parasite was worth a second go, especially as Cinema Nova was screening a black-and-white version.

I find it hard to describe why Parasite is so good. Like Emma. (2020), which I saw earlier on the same day, it deals with privilege and the harm done by those in a bubble of entitlement. The story revolves around two families. Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik) lives with his parents and sister Ki-jung (Park So-dam) in a semi-basement apartment. Semi-basement means poor and they scrounge for free Wi-Fi and take on menial jobs just to keep food on their table. Ki-woo’s friend Min (Park Seo-joon) asks him to take over tutoring young student Park Da-hye (Jung Ji-so) who lives in an architect-designed house in the wealthy, geographically higher part of Seoul with her father Dong-ik (Lee Sun-kyun), mother Yeon-kyo (Cho Yeo-jeong) and troubled young brother Da-song (Jung Hyun-jun).

Ki-woo enters a world distinctly at odds with his own. The Park’s house is quiet and light filled, food appears instantly care of smiling housekeeper Moon-gwang (Lee Jeong-eun) and Yeon-kyo is easily fooled by the street smarts of Ki-woo and his family.

What at first seems a social drama, akin to Shoplifters (2018), slowly ratchets into a suspenseful and ultimately violent thriller as our subterranean family finds their voice. The characters are all well drawn – we can see the good and the bad in them all and, like in Emma, we can see how privilege rewards but also limits awareness. The sense of place is strong, emphasised by the long descent of the family during the rain storm from the protected quiet of the lofty mansion to the depths of their home. Basements are a key theme, both for the poverty they represent and as a place where shameful reality is hidden.

I’m so glad this film won the Best Picture, Director and Screenplay Oscars. I can see why the Academy favoured it in a way they didn’t for the previous year’s (and equally good) Roma (2018). Parasite has a narrative and style that would feel familiar to Americans. Its story is embedded in the social reality of South Korea today but could easily be transferred to another country (but please don’t do this, Hollywood).

The black-and-white version was interesting particularly in the visual effect of the light and shade of the Park’s minimalist home and the labyrinthine basement. It made the story feel a tad more timeless and the effects of the violence was somewhat mitigated. It didn’t necessarily make it a better film, but only because it’s already so good.

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Image via http://www.cambridgeday.com