Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.
- Won 4 Oscars
- 316 wins & 266 nominations total
- Dong Ik
- (as Lee Sun Kyun)
- Yeon Kyo
- (as Cho Yeo Jeong)
- Ki Woo
- (as Choi Woo Shik)
- Ki Jung
- (as Park So Dam)
- Chung Sook
- (as Chang Hyae Jin)
- Geun Se
- (as Park Myeong Hoon)
- Da Hye
- (as Jung Ziso)
- Da Song
- (as Jung Hyeon Jun)
- Driver Yoon
- (as Park Keun Rok)
- CEO of Pizza Place
- (as Jeung Esuh)
- Neighbor
- (as Jung Ik Han)
- Internet Cafe Staff
- (as Hwang In Kyung)
- Street Fighting Person 1
- (as Ahn Seong Bong)
- Street Fighting Person 2
- (as Kim Jin Hyung)
Best Picture Winners by Year
Best Picture Winners by Year
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaKi-woo's job, at-home tutor, was chosen because director Bong Joon Ho realized that sadly the job is the only way that families from two extreme ends of the class spectrum in modern-day South Korea can cross their paths convincingly in the story arc.
- Goofs(at around 1h 30 mins) When the Kims are sneaking out of the house while the Parks are sleeping on the couch, the Kim's are barefoot. When seen running home they somehow now have their shoes. If they had left their shoes at the entrance the Parks would likely have noticed them. It would be more likely they would have left them in the garage.
- Quotes
Ki-taek: [to his son] You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan. No plan at all. You know why? Because life cannot be planned. Look around you. Did you think these people made a plan to sleep in the sports hall with you? But here we are now, sleeping together on the floor. So, there's no need for a plan. You can't go wrong with no plans. We don't need to make a plan for anything. It doesn't matter what will happen next. Even if the country gets destroyed or sold out, nobody cares. Got it?
The later develops do work better though when viewed in the context of the social aspect. There are lots of clever critics that can talk to you about the meaning and hidden depths of commentary from the film; for me the key one was the falseness of the 'con' itself. Although the family mock the gullibility of the rich family, it is not like they are stealing money from them, or somehow dislodging them from their position in life - no, they are just providing labour to them in exchange of comparatively low wages. They are doing this at the expense of other working people just trying to keep a job, and the rich family could probably not care less about the 'truth' as long as their needs continue to be met. This aspect is important for the direction of the later stages of the film, and adds sense to what happens and why, but it is interesting in and of itself. Technically the film looks great, and the director builds mood and tone well. Performances are strong across all the cast, but the turn from Song Kang Ho probably was my favourite as he was the most subtle and had the most space to shift across the running time.
There is a lot of talk for Oscar recognition, but it is a handsome, clever film and the timing in the year is right - I don't see it being the first foreign language film to win best picture, but this is more to do with the system than with the film. Regardless of awards or not, it is an engaging drama, with unusual developments, and built on top of an intelligent social aspect which links well to the direction of the narrative.
- bob the moo
- Aug 15, 2020
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Parásitos
- Filming locations
- Jahamun-ro, Buam-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea(Ki Taek and family enter Jahamun tunnel, walking back home in the rain)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $11,400,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $53,369,749
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $393,216
- Oct 13, 2019
- Gross worldwide
- $262,129,969
- Runtime2 hours 12 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1