Parasite (Korean: 기생충; Hanja: 寄生蟲; RR: Gisaengchung) is a 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote the screenplay with Han Jin-won and co-produced the film. The film, starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun, follows a poor family who scheme to become employed by a wealthy family and infiltrate their household by posing as unrelated, highly qualified individuals.
The script is based on Joon-ho's source material from a play written in 2013. He later adapted it into a fifteen-page film draft, and it was split into three different drafts by Jin-won. Joon-ho stated that he took inspiration from the 1960 Korean film The Housemaid, and also from the Christine and Léa Papin incident in the 1930s to write the film's screenplay. Filming began in May 2018 and completed that September. The technical crew comprised cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, film editor Yang Jin-mo, and composer Jung Jae-il. Darcy Paquet, an American film critic and author, provided English translations for the film's international release.
Parasite premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2019, where it became the first South Korean film to win the Palme d'Or. It was then released in South Korea by CJ Entertainment on 30 May. The film is considered by many critics to be the best film of 2019 and one of the greatest films of the 21st century. It grossed over $263 million worldwide on a $15.5 million budget. Among its numerous accolades, Parasite won a leading four awards at the 92nd Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film, becoming the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Parasite is the first South Korean film to receive Academy Award recognition, along with being one of three films to win both the Palme d'Or and the Academy Award for Best Picture, the first such achievement in over 60 years. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, and it became the first non-English language film to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. A television series, based on the events in the film, is in early development.
Plot[]
The Kim family—father Ki-taek, mother Chung-sook, daughter Ki-jung, and son Ki-woo—live in a small semi-basement apartment (banjiha) in Seoul, have low-paying temporary jobs folding pizza boxes, and struggle to make ends meet. University student Min-hyuk, a friend of Ki-woo's, gives the family a scholar's rock meant to promise wealth. Leaving to study abroad and knowing his friend needs the income, he suggests that Ki-woo pose as a university student to take over his job as an English tutor for the daughter of the wealthy Park family, Da-hye. Ki-woo, pretending to be a Yonsei University student, is subsequently hired by the Parks.
The Kim family schemes to get each member of the family a job by posing as unrelated and highly qualified workers to become servants of the Parks. Ki-jung poses as "Jessica" and, using Ki-Woo as a reference, becomes an art therapist to the Parks' young son, Da-song. Ki-jung frames Yoon, Mr Park's chauffeur, by making it appear as if he had sex in the car, then recommends Ki-taek to replace him. Finally, Chung-sook takes over as the Parks' housekeeper after the Kims exploit the peach allergy of the long-time housekeeper, Moon-gwang, to convince Mrs Park that she has tuberculosis. Ki-woo begins a secret romantic relationship with Da-hye.
When the Parks leave on a camping trip, the Kims revel in the luxuries of the residence before Moon-gwang abruptly appears at the door, telling Chung-sook she left something in the basement. She enters a hidden entrance to an underground bunker created by the architect and previous homeowner, where Moon-gwang's husband, Geun-sae, has been secretly living for over four years, hiding from loan sharks. Chung-sook refuses Moon-gwang's pleas to help Geun-sae remain in the bunker, but the eavesdropping Kims accidentally reveal themselves. Moon-gwang films them on her phone and threatens to expose their ruse to the Parks.
A severe rainstorm brings the Parks home early, and the Kims scramble to clean up the home and subdue Moon-gwang and Geun-sae before they return. The Kims trap Geun-sae and Moon-gwang in the bunker. Mrs Park reveals to Chung-sook that Da-song had a seizure-inducing traumatic experience on a previous birthday, when he saw a "ghost" — actually Geun-sae — emerging from the basement at night. Before the Kims manage to sneak out of the house, they hear Mr Park's off-handed comments about Ki-taek's smell. The Kims find their apartment flooded with sewer water as a result of the severe rainstorm and are forced to shelter in a gymnasium with other displaced people.
The next day, Mrs Park hosts a house party for Da-song's birthday with the Kim family's help. Ki-woo enters the bunker with the scholar's rock to find Geun-sae. Finding Moon-gwang has died from a concussion she received during the earlier fight, he is attacked by a deranged Geun-sae, who bludgeons his head with the rock and escapes, leaving Ki-woo lying in a pool of blood at the entrance to the basement. Seeking to avenge Moon-gwang, Geun-sae stabs Ki-jung with a kitchen knife in front of the horrified party guests. Da-song suffers another seizure upon seeing Geun-sae, and a struggle breaks out until Chung-sook fatally impales Geun-sae with a barbecue skewer. While Ki-taek tends to a severely bleeding Ki-jung, Mr Park orders Ki-taek to drive Da-song to the hospital. In the chaos, Ki-taek, upon seeing Mr Park's disgusted reaction to Geun-sae's smell, angrily kills him with the knife. Ki-taek then flees the scene, leaving the rest of the Kim family behind.
Weeks later, Ki-woo is recovering from brain surgery. He and Chung-sook are convicted of fraud and put on probation. Ki-jung is revealed to have died from her injuries, and Ki-taek, wanted by the police for Mr Park's murder, cannot be found. Geun-sae has been assumed to be an insane homeless man, and neither his nor Ki-taek's motive for the stabbings are known. Ki-woo spies on the Parks' home, now occupied by a German family unaware of its history, and sees a message in Morse code from a flickering light. Ki-taek, who escaped into the bunker via the garage, has buried Moon-gwang in the backyard and now raids the kitchen at night and sends the message every day, hoping Ki-woo will see it. Still living in their original basement apartment with his mother, Ki-woo writes a letter to Ki-taek, vowing and imagining to earn enough money to one day purchase the house and reunite with his father.