The "Birthday Cake" scene is legitimately one of the scariest moments for me in recent memory, so beautifully shot and terrifying

The most hilarious scene imo is when the family is fighting with the maid and her husband, and the sister runs to the kitchen and you think she’s gonna get a knife or something but then she comes back with a bag of peaches instead. When I first watched that in the theatre I was the only one bursting out laughing..

There is a reason why this Movie won Best Picture on Oscar 2020. RESPECT!!

The smell in this movie is not just symbolic. It has to do with South Korea's climate. Because it is a peninsula, surrounded by water, humidity is high especially in the summer and during monsoon season. The Kim's apartment is called a half-basement and it is the worst possible dwelling especially since Koreans are very particular about ground and floors ( we consider it very dirty, hence we do not wear shoes indoors). As you saw, these units get flooded and because of the humidity and poor repair/care, mould growth is prevalent. This is where the smell comes from. You can sometimes smell it in the subways from the person next to you. It has nothing to do with body odour or not washing. Koreans are generally very particular about personal hygiene as well. No matter how poor, looking sharp when out and about is a must, it is considered to be a social responsibility and also the first step to receiving "respect". I'll touch on that later. The general theme is the disparity between the rich and the poor. Korea has about the highest percentage of university grads in the world and despite this the poor find it very difficult to get ahead. The Kim's are very skilled and intelligent people but they are where they are and they are who they are because of the system. This is a growing problem in South Korea. The rich continue to keep all else out, hand jobs and high positions to their kids and friends regardless of low qualifications. For the poor, no matter how much effort you put in, the doors keep shutting on them. The harder they try to climb up, the deeper their hole becomes (going from a half-basement to a full basement). And like the Kims, they sometimes feel a need to manipulate this vicious cycle. This is what the movie is about. Korean culture is based on "Respect". This is what the housekeeper's husband says to Mr. Park just before he dies. Classism is still a thing but it has nothing to do with pedigree or education as before, it has mostly to do with money in modern times. The fastest way to gain respect in the 21st century South Korea is with money and tons of it. Unfortunately , the modern day wealthy lack the ethics, principles of the yesteryears. In addition, for the poor, this disparity is a constant and daily source of frustration. A day might be full of having to swallow pride, looking the other way, grinning and bearing. This is why Mr. Kim snaps near the end. His initial congenial mannerisms, and positivity is from decades of keeping it all in purely to survive. Furthermore, the criminal occupation of Korea by japan in the early 1900's where they tried to inhumanely commit genocide, the complexities against being disrespected became ingrained in our consciousness. In a culture where respect is the foundation; if you give it/earn it, you can get everything; if you show disrespect, you can lose everything just as easily.

Parasite was supposed to be titled 564 Years - thats how long son would have to work to afford this house.

the amount of symbolism in this movie is.. wow. even the most seemingly insignificant thing, is sooo significant

Jessica, only child. Illinois, Chicago. Classmate of Kim Jin-mo, He's your cousin.

“I don’t trust this shit no more” 😂😂😂 I love how even though nothing really happened yet you can instantly just FEEL when the exact moment the movie twists into something new.

I get flabbergasted each time at how freaking good this movie is. I don't think this is the kind of movie where you find "good guys" to sympathize with, and that's what makes it so good. Even the Parks, who are the ones who might be seen as the most "bad," are really the innocent ones in all of this -- especially the little boy Da-song, who because of the actions of the Kims and the husband and wife, probably has trauma to last a lifetime now. Apart from the stellar writing, I think it's also the equally stellar acting that makes you want to side with a group. The Kims are just soooo good and entertaining before you realize, oh, yeah, they're pretty f*cked up. I live in a third world country where the "the rain was a blessing" scene gets mentioned *a lot* when discussing class divides, especially during times of emergency like the pandemic or natural disasters, so this movie hits quite close to home on that front. So good, and I love the discourse this movie encourages, whether on class struggles or moral choices.

Bong Joon Ho is one of the best directors out there. You should check out his other movies such as: Memories of Murder, Okja, and Mother

Legit when I started watching this movie I had no idea what it was about at all, when it first started up I'm like "is this some kind of post-apocalyptic setting where resources are getting less and less as society collapses?" and then later I realized, "oh, they're just poor."

Regarding the rich family being the "innocent" one: there's a line half-way through the movie when the poor family is celebrating in the rich house where the poor mother says "They [the rich family] are nice BECAUSE they are rich." I think that's almost the thesis of the movie. When you are rich, you not only do you have less stress about survival and competing with others, you can also afford to be charitable, hold lavish events, attend therapy to address behavioral issues, etc. Essentially, you can afford to be nice when you are rich. The following point is a fairly common refrain, but the biggest villain of the film is not the rich or poor families but the system that pits the poor against each other in the benefit of the rich and in the end perpetuating the system.

My favorite metaphor was usage of the line between the Windows. First scene when the housekeeper wakes up the Madame, the housekeeper cares herself to not cross over the line which is separated by a line between two big windows. But later on the scene when Madame fires the housekeeper, you can clearly see that the housekeeper crossed the line between the windows to Madame's side.

I can't remember the last time I saw a movie that contained as many genres as 'Parasite' : comedy, mystery, thriller, drama, romance, crime and even horror film. It really did have everything and it was strikingly good at all of them too.I love a film that respects its audience. There are so many details in this movie that are crucially important and yet the film trusts its audience to notice them and acknowledge them without ramming them down our throats. The film was incredibly entertaining too. I can't think of a boring scene in this movie and yet on the surface for large parts of the film you would say not a lot is happening, at least in terms of action. Fascinating characters and brilliant dialogue are what create this. I had a great time with 'Parasite'.

The younger son is not autistic, she meant special in a good way, like talented, because she believed his drawing is so artistic

Staircases play a prominent role in Parasite. If you watch it again it's amazing how they filmed it. Riches are usually going up the stairs and poors are always behind them or going down the stairs.

Korean cinema has been incredible for a few decades at least, anyone no aware of that isn't paying attention

One of the best well written plot twists in television history. The Oscar was well deserved. Started off as a funny, quirky family to a sea of mystery, and secrets revealed in a snap. The kick scene will always be iconic. Gave me goosebumps and still does to this moment😭

43:57 You are right. They are not bad people. They are ignorance people. Most born rich people are like that. You know, the rain part was realistic as hell. I'm from middle class family, but my father never allowed us be that ignorance. My father and mother came from poor family and they really struggled in the past. My father always reminded us where we came from. I remembered when I was 21, my family and I lived in two storey bungalow. There was rain and river started to overflow and water start rising in our house about one feet. We don't really mind that much because, well, like I said two storey bungalow. So we just move everything important upstairs. But when I reach out to my friend to ask about her condition, her family is poor, she said her house was completely submerged to the roof. She and her family had to go to the shelter. I did felt sad for her, but no matter how much I sympathise with her, I can never imagine how she must feel like back then because I am not in her place. Seeing the difference a simple rain for the rich and the poor in this film really reminded me of that.

43:09 She didn't pay him extra. That was just something she said. If you watch carefully, you will notice she kept some money from the allotted tutor stipend and actually paid him less than she used to pay his friend.

The mother didn't pay extra for inflation. If you look closely, she's taking money OUT of the envelop that she usually gives Min, and then lies about how much she's paying him... she's actually short-handing and taking advantage of him.

Man the ending of this movie always gets to me 😭😭 I can relate to this want of having a dream/plan to reunite with family, living comfortably as part of an immigrant family. My parents always talk about missing their family back in their home country but not being able to visit.

The rich lady shorted Kevin when she paid him, while acting like she was paying him more than the previous tutor. I don't think the rich family were good or bad. It really isn't about who is good or bad. Nor do I think the poor family and the housemaid couple were good or bad. It's a critique of the system that makes the poor fight amongst themselves to get whatever they can get. And the system that allows the rich to exploit the poor without seeming to them that they are exploiting them.

I went into the theater, like Micky, having seen the poster and having known it was a Bong Joon-ho film. Blew me away. Song Kang-ho (Mr. Kim) and Park So-dam (Kim Ki-jung/Jessica) were snubbed by the Academy. Every time I revisit this film, I notice more things. Like the fact the Parks never look down or how the camera subtly pushes in as the Kims run their hustles. Or how many scenes between the Parks and the help have a line somewhere in the scene, as in "crossing the line." Bong is very direct in using visuals to get his points across. Also, hey, nice Shenmue shirt. Where'd you get it?

Parasite is such a masterpiece!!!

It took home 4 Oscars including Best Picture, and people were pissed that it won, too.

I loved the discussion bit, but to add to it and tie it all together, as Mickey was saying, the hyper competitive system both families live in incentivized apathy and cynicism in both classes of people.

Such a good movie. I'm glad you finally got to react to it!

I went into this movie knowing absolutely nothing. It was fantastic.

Thank you guys! Loved hearing your thoughts especially after the movie. You should also react to 'Mother' one of Bong's last movie's before he went international. It's a real gem. I won't give anything else away but it's considered a Korean cult classic

A masterpiece! I just loved it!

4:56 Fun fact, that garden is CGI! In fact, a lot of the backgrounds in this movie are CGI! They did a really good job with it, and they were also smart by mostly using it for things that you aren't looking directly at anyway.

love you guys

My personal favorite Korean films as a Korean AMiercan 1. Peppermint Candy: Just a masterpiece throughout, but you need a bit of a grasp of modern Korean history as the film explores what caused this man to contemplate suicide. And every moment the movie goes back to in time narratively is a seminal moment in 20th century Korean history 2. Memories of Murder: Bong Joon Ho's magnum opus. Period 3. Oldboy. Nuff said 4. The Handmaiden - another Park Chan Wook masterpiece, an adaptation of Sarah Waters' "Fingersmiths" into a film set not in Victorian England as w/ the novel but set in the Japanese Occupation era in Korea. 5. 1987:When the Day Comes - About the June Uprising in 1987 that finally led to the end of the military dictatorship. Just an amazing film throughout, and a lot of it is baseed on the testimony of the actual historical people 6. The Host - Bong Joon Ho's take on the monster genre a la Godzilla. But it's also a scathing criticism of the South Korean government bureaucracy in the time of a crisis. And this film was released in 2006, yet it predicted down to a T the reactions of the gov't and the media sensationalism, and the callousness towards the families of the deceased when the ferry Sewol sank in 2014 that carried hundreds of high school kids in a school trip. 7. Nameless Gangster: One of the best made dark comedies/thrillers. And as some korean commenter put it, "only in Korea do gangsters look at their family lineage books while making drug deals" 8. A Taxi Driver: It is 1980, and after President Park, who ruled Korea with an iron fist for 18 years, was assassinated by his right hand man, another military dictator staged a coup when the country tried to democratize. And the man sent in the Paratroopers to the city of Gwangju, the support base for the noted opposition politician and human rights activist Kim Dae Jung. And they kill civilians. Lots of them. And tried to cover it up. See what happens 9. Spy Gone North - Based on a true tory of a South Korean operative who actually met Kim Jong Il while undercover as a businessman in China. Just full of political twists 10. Man from Nowhere: Think "Taken" - and really well made

I was waiting for this one

18 is an arbitrary age that was picked so countries could justify sending kids to war. Scientifically, there's nothing about an 18-year old's brain that makes them significantly more grown up than a 17-year old. The real issue, like Marketa pointed out, was the tutor-student dynamic.

Omg you NEED to reach to The Witch Subversion Part 1 after this! Highly recommend it.

I loved this movie, cool that you watched it

You should definitely react to Oldboy one of my favorite movies the plot twists are insane and its a Korean movie too!

The sadly truth is our main character, can never ever buy that house by work hard. The director actually did the math, said if he want to buy it he have to work like 100 or 150 years (I don't remember exactly number) non stop.

Waiting forever for this!! Turning red next!!!

R.I.P Actor Lee Sun-Kyun [1975-2023] 😭🙏🕊

Love your review after the movie!! It's a very interesting and tragic movie

Mickey is the first person I have ever seen laugh just as much in the 2nd half of this movie as in the 1st.

oooooh, yeah i can't believe mickey had never seen this before! i don't think this is a movie where you are supposed to assign sympathies to a side, right? like, the point is that the very conditions that make poor people poor frequently leads to pity but no sympathy, and the rich people would have absolutely nothing without exploiting the poor. cuz we only see the immediate sphere of the families interacting, but mr. park has probably thousands of employees at his tech company alone, and then if you take into account things like personal lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, stylists, private doctors, travel brokers, art acquisition specialists, and many other support staff that rich people depend on, mr. park outsources his entire life. this is a big reason, for me at least, why the "automatic" lights are such a gut punch. it's not very often that we're confronted with the people who have to sacrifice for our convenience. additionally, work culture in skorea is something else. one of the things that i wish came across better in english translations is the way honorifics and formal language work in korean. mr. kim is older than mr. park, which would normally mean that mr. park would have to defer to mr. kim in social situations and use more formal language with him. but the roles are reversed as long as mr. park is mr. kim's boss. like, it would be disrespectful to address mr. park directly by his name, you have to refer to him by his title at all times. workplace bullying and strict enforcement of the hierarchy is something that people have been pushing back against for a long time because that alone can be incredibly dehumanizing. i think the language piece adds a lot to the tension of the movie.

Awesome movie glad you liked it !!!

Masterpiece.

It's hilarious that these guys think that a personal valet driver isn't an on call employee, they're are so far left and just look past all the bad shit that the poor family does its actually hilarious

i do think that it's wrong to look at age gaps only through the lens of legality. it's not really about what people are "allowed" to do, right? it's about recognizing that at a certain age, we invest people with adult rights and responsibilities which changes how they move in society. that threshold changes the balance of power in a relationship. additionally, in skorea, the legal age of adulthood is 20y/o (19 years if you don't count age the east asian way). that's the drinking age, voting age, etc, and age of consent laws have been updated to match the age of majority since "parasite" came out. so no, a 20y/o dating a 23y/o is not equivalent to a 17y/o dating a 20y/o, developmentally, morally, or legally.

FINALLY!

Always watch a good movie with the lights off!!!

So goooooood👏👏👏👏

YES I LOVE THIS MOVIE

This is one of the greatest films of all time.

Woohooo finally!

36:19 I just realized the detective is that youtube streamer in All of us are dead

Oh this is a good one

About time

Loved this movie when i saw it

I love how no matter the line-up, there's always this crazy amount of chemistry🤣

I love this movie, and I love how you can see the complexities shown in the film where there's no good or bad guy (except Capitalism lol). Like, the rich people's "crime" was mostly just being ignorant. But the very existence of this kind of stratification is violence upon the poor. The rich people don't have to do anything directly to the poor people for the violence to be felt just in the existence of these strata, in the unfairness of their circumstances. And that showed really well in this film.

Thanks! You should check Park Chan-Wook's movies as well! Especially the Handmaiden

The age for the tutor and rich daughter in the movie is about 17 and 15 so not too weird

good choice😁😊

45:27 LMAO the girl getting mad when you said "its easy to villanize successful people" .....its true! Both sides (rich and poor) forget the others are human too, and their life experiences are no less valid than yours. Its easy to act high and mighty, but deep down the jealousy is real. In no way were any of their actions morally acceptable, but because their victims were rich, its all so much more forgivable/understandable for some reason.

You have to listen to the song (lyrics) in the end of the movie.

I know I’m almost a year late, but the age gap is most likely not that big. I’m a Korean (who moved away several years ago, so this may have changed when I was gone). She’s preparing for college entry exams which makes her probably about 16-17. In Korea, you can drink alcohol after you finish high school which you do about 18-19 y/o. It was also stated that he already did the college exams twice which puts him around the same age. 20 at oldest but I think that’s stretching it. The age gap checks out imo (unless he’s 20 and she’s 16 ofc lol). This is ignoring the power dynamics lol. Side note: The English section for the Korean College exams are absolute bullshit, and I’m glad I moved out before I had to take it 😭

"Being a house anything gets a negative conatation."

castaway on the moon 이 영화도 꼭 보세요. 한국에서 영화포스터 때문에 흥행에 실패했지만 영화를 좋아하는 사람이라면 보시면 좋아할 영화입니다.

27:04 "lots of people live underground. Especially if you count semi-basements" That's where they live!

it'd be cool if you did other bong joon ho movie reactions (memories of murder?)

The poor fighting the poor for scraps

The man in the bunker was social distancing before it was cool.

Both the rich and the poor families fed off each other. Thus, why it’s called Parasite.

U must watch every Bong Joon Ho movie(except Barking dogs). He is Incredible.

Nah cz the way i watched the movie just today i kept telling myself back then imma watch it but i kept forgetting djdjdj im sadd bc this mv was a masterpieceeeee

Pat scares me.

kids love playing in the rain.

The singer at the party is the same actress at Pachinko singer.

Did Chris and Suraj already react to this movie?

Dears, you could react to The call or also named The telephone, in Netflix.

Memories of Murder by Bong Joon Ho pls…and Joint Security Area

this movie invokes the same feelings and emotions I feel when I watch Attack on Titan. lmao. torn.

6:28 Actually, she put a certain amount of money in the envelope, then thought better of it and took some out. She's paying him less while claiming to pay more!

LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOO

"Man's got a smartphone but no wifi." spoken like a privileged American lmao

The movie is a critique of capitalism. It illustrates the class warfare in the setting of an upperclass home. Bong Joon-Ho has another film named Snowpiercer (2013) that makes a similar critique.

17:51 anyone else think Tiny Tim was about to start singing Tiptoe Through the Tulips?☠☠☠

Song Kang ho is my favorite actor

Pls watch Memories of Murder from Bong Joon Hoo Another masterpiece

I'm 99% sure some of the English captioning aren't direct translations. Isn't there some mention of going to school in Illinois or something like that? I don't think any of these characters were expected to have spent time in America.

The daughter isn't under 18, she's 19. And he's probably around 21-22. Not every other country in the world works like the US :/ It's definitely not illegal. And Korea doesn't have the same laws.

just fyi but high school students that are in their last year are usually over 18 in South Korea

FYi: the son would never be able to earn enough money to buy that house.

Have you guys watched "fate stay night unlimited blade works" if not can you guys please react to it. 😀

is very hard to get into college in korea

The ending to this movie was always the turning point for me. This movie through out was simply amazing and accurate but than later on really shows that you can’t be to comfortably of the situation you are taking advantage of. Also, just don’t go around drinking and ruining the house that you are trying to fanes

As a medical professional its really impossible to say if he is on the espectrum or not, what is clear is he has seizures triguerd by a traumatic event. Which is enough for a close rotine check up with a neuro pediatrician

The ages for highschool are different in korea

watching parasite only 2022?