I think I speak for everyone when I say that Bong Joon-Ho’s monopoly on the 92nd Academy Awards was unprecedented and extraordinary if not disgruntling. A little part of me, I will admit, thought that the Academy was making up for not nominating a single person of color for most of its history: I thought they were being overzealous trying to fix a biased past. I had seen Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, and The Irishman, and 1917, and out of those, considering the resumes of their directors and their connection to the academy, I thought I had the awards in the bag. I think this was the view that many who had not seen Joon-Ho’s latest film held, Parasite, myself included, until just recently. 

I watched Parasite with my father, who did his best to prepare me for the viewing, and I can say, unequivocally, that even Bong Joon-Ho himself tried could not have prepared me. 

A great movie is like a really smooth car ride, nothing interrupts your journey from point A to point B: it almost pacifies you. Parasite is so smooth that it puts you at the mercy of the story and direction, transcending even the notion of expectation, let alone any expectations you had for the film itself. 

There is just so much to unpack with this film. The turbulence of describing it just goes to show how endowed Joon-Ho is with his knowledge of filmmaking. 

Initially, I held that the movie was a commentary on the evil of treachery, but it’s genius hit me in waves, I slowly began to see parallels to late stage capitalism, class struggles, god, and more. It’s hitting me still. 

Not since Aronofsky’s Mother! have I had such a profound reaction to a film, though with mother, the majesty of the film lies solely in its meaning. In Parasite, the excellence of the film is dually expressed in the meaningfulness of the screenplay and the finesse of the cinematography. It’s like watching a lecture on philosophy while riding a roller coaster through the Aurora Borealis.

10/10