Parasite

Parasite

Korean cinema has gained a lot of recognition of late, thanks in large part to Directors like Bong Jon Ho.  I will say without hyperbole that he is one of the most dynamic directors out there and there is no other Director that can take you on a ride where you have no idea where you are going and surprises you with the final destination.  I consider his latest effort ‘Parasite’ to be his finest work and that says a lot considering films like ‘Snowpiercer’ and ‘Okja’ are on his resume.  ‘Parasite’ is a timely and insightful film about class disparity, but it wastes no time trying lecture or moralize about it.  I think Bong doesn’t mind giving you a message, but he is more interested in surprising you on where the story takes the audience.  How does one classify this film?  Comedy? Drama? Suspense? Thriller? Social Commentary?  I have no idea how to label it (probably the point), but one thing I can say is just when you think you know where the story is going they change directions and through you a curve ball that affects the entire direction and narrative.  Bong Jo Ho is a master at his craft.

The story revolves around the unemployed Ki-taek family.  The family is so poor that they live in a basement apartment where they do the odd job of folding pizza boxes for income.  They gratefully leave their windows open when the city fumigates the streets as they consider it free extermination for their apartment and it chases away the man who continually urinates outside their apartment window.  Through a stroke of good fortune and a hook up from a college buddy, the son Min (Seo-Joon Park) lands an English tutoring job with the Uber wealthy Park family.  Not only is Min amazed by the Parks wealth, but he is also charmed by their graciousness albeit naïveté.  Min spots an opportunity to expand his family’s good fortune where he has his sister pose as a high in demand  art tutor and recommends her for the Park’s precocious son.  Not believing their good fortune of getting away with two members of their family securing jobs with the Park family on fraudulent terms, the family plots a plan to get them all employed by the Parks

Eventually they work out the family driver and housekeeper and deftly replace them with  their mother and father. With the entire family employed by the Parks and the Parks being none the wiser, the Ki-Taeks are living the good life, especially when the Parks are away.  Things are going well until during one night of revelry absent the Parks, the former housekeeper shows up and changes everything with her revelation.  I am a firm believer in not doing spoilers in my review, so I can’t really give anymore details about the plot other than to say that the movie takes a dramatically different direction.

In a lesser film (especially ones involving class warfare) there would be good guys (usually the poor family) and bad guys (definitely the rich family). Bong Jon Ho does not make it so easy.  While we sympathize and hope for the best for the Ki-take family they are not without their faults.  Indeedthey do things that are criminal and contemptible.  Likewise the wealthy Parks have all the snobberies one would expect of a rich family, but they are genuinely likable and sincere.  There are no good guys or bad guys, just a situation that spirals out of control.

Bong Jon Ho’s ability to deftly change direction, if not genres, mid-movie is beautiful to behold.  He is able to ratchet up intense thrills and tensions while not letting go of the comedy or the commentary. Part of the reason for the tension is that you know that Bong Jon Ho is taking you somewhere, but given the twists and turns prevelant in the movie you have no idea where and how high he’s willing to go.  In this era of cookie cutter formula movies and sequels that offer few surprises, it is refreshing to see a Director who takes chances and offers a unique vision that isn’t tried and true.  There is nothing in this film that a Director could sell to a studios as a sure fire way to make money other than it is fantastic.  I can’t wait to see Bong Jon Ho’s next offering because each film seems to get progressively better.

I give this film **** stars out of five

Parasite trailer

Joker

         If I wasn’t so verbose, I could sum ‘Joker’ up in one word: “Wow!”.  There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the release of this film involving the disturbing themes and imagery.  People have tried to censor this film based on it’s close relation to the 'Dark Knight’ and the Aurora Colorado shootings.  Still others find it toxic to seemingly glorify a psychopathic violent loner.  And still others have focused their “wokeness” and “recreational outrage” to the latest flavor of a cancel target.  I tend to lean to absolutism when it comes to film and art where I believe the artist should be free to express their vision.  With all that being said, I completely understand the controversy and I’m surprised finding myself not disagreeing with the points the film’s critics are making.  That is not to say that I didn’t find this a superb piece of film making and a darkly beautifully filmed character study.  This is a film that takes chances in response to a world that snobbishly turns their collective noses up at “comic book” films.  My reverent hope is the 'Joker' will be rewarded during Oscar season.

First and foremost, for those who do not care for the super hero genre, this is not the type of film you are used to disliking.  If I had to label this film, it would be a noir character study akin to ‘Taxi Driver’.  It is a film that examines the descent of a sociopath, but does not glorify it despite what the critics have been saying.  Even though the majority of Americans know who the Joker is in the Batman world, this film is not connected to the current inter-connected DC film universe.  This is a stand alone film.  In fact, DC has slowly been giving up trying to copy Marvel’s one universe success and going more for these type of stand alone films.  If this is the result, then I say continue in this direction, because I have nothing but respect for this film.

Joker first appeared in Batman #1 in 1940.  Since then, there have been many origin stories and interpretations.  Film and TV wise, it is subjectively debatable which version is best, but I will say Heath Ledger’s version is probably the most respected give his Oscar awarded performance.  I found Joaquin Phoenix’s performance every bit as respectable yet entirely original and his own.  It has washed out the bad tasted of Jared Leto’s performance in ‘Suicide Squad’ and given me new confidence that DC can find their own audience with a unique vision apart from Marvel’s.  

The story itself doesn’t sound that intriguing.  Arthur Fleck is a mentally ill struggling comedian and clown who lives with his mother.  He is trying to keep it all together and the fact that he has Pseudobulbar Affect (a condition that causes uncontrollable laughing/crying) only heightens his isolation from his fellow man.  Life is not kind to Arthur and one event after another spirals Arthur downward.  He has two rays of light in his life.  His single mother neighbor, Sophie, shows him kindness which he hopes will turn into a relationship.  The second is during one of the nights he bombed at an open-mic comedy club, he caught the attention of one of his comedy idols, Murray Franklin.  Robert DeNiro captures the essence of a Johnny Carson style talk show host.  Not evil, but definitely a smarmy Hollywood type who is attracted to Arthur strictly in order to make fun of him on national TV.  

My admiration of this film is not in the story which we’ve seen shades of before as in the aforementioned ‘Taxi driver’ or ‘King of Comedy’ (ironically, both starring Robert DeNiro).  My respect comes from the sheer beauty of the film making.  Where most films in the comic book genre tend to be a roller coaster of action, this film takes its’ time.  Lingering camera shots as we feel Arthur’s descent into madness. We feel his pain as life batters him and while I may not sympathize with him, I definitely understand his descent.  As Arthur slowly becomes more violent, the film’s violence isn’t gratuitous or cartoonish.  It is visceral and disturbing.  Not necessarily gory, but having a certain veritas and gravitas that we are numb to in over the top action films. 

The film’s music score adds to the intensity so I recommend seeing this in the theater with a good sound system where you actually can feel the intensity it instills. The music that Director Todd Phillips chooses are ones that I never would have associated with a film of this type, but they fit perfectly to his vision.  The scene where Arthur Fleck emerges for the first time  in his Joker persona in its’ entirety is set to  Gary Glitters ‘Rock & Roll: Part 2” and is both viscerally exciting and disturbing given the lightness of the song overlapping Fleck’s madness.

There are many unexpected directions this film takes as well as a few easter eggs for we comic nerds, overall this film defies easy classification.  It’s too easy to say it’s just a character study as Phillips ability to take such a dark and unredeemable subject matter and give it the artistic beauty of superior film making causes many conflicting emotions.  In the end, I believe art is all about emotionally moving someone and ‘Joker’ does that, even if it isn’t in a direction one would want to go.  Much, much respect for this achievement.

I give this film **** out of five stars

Joker trailer