It was ok nth special, I don’t get it. I enjoyed it to a point but nth special 6/10
shareI suppose it's the narrative that mainly resonated with those in the academy and other awards panels. I personally loved Parasite but I also had little preference as to which films should have won the awards that Parasite was nominated for. Different strokes I guess
shareIt was a great film, entertaining, smart and with a fantastic screenplay and good performances.
shareMost acclaimed film of the year, hugely popular, likeable, accessible... I guess you are in the minority, which is fine, but this is one of the more beloved films of recent years.
shareCaught this film last night, apparently this thing won about 200 awards and was nominated over 300 times. So, yeah, I had to check it out...
I think it is a well made film but was it funny and was the story really all that intriguing? I think parts of the film were quite funny, maybe even borderline hilarious, there are some good satirical moments going on in this thing. But the story is a bit cliche. I guess the audience is supposed to feel sorry for the lower class family and dislike the upper class family, or maybe vice versa, this part of the film never really seems clear-cut. But I will admit, these class warfare films are a hit or miss for me, that being said, I think Parasite falls somewhere in between.
As mentioned before, I thought it was well made, ***spoiler*** that flood scene is a great piece of film-making, and that part when the mother acts out a North Korean news broadcast was spot on. ***End spoiler***
Overall, the acting was good by everyone involved in this movie, but this brings me back to the story, which I think falls a little short. Too many things seem to fall perfectly into place, which reminds you that you're watching a movie, a very very... VERY... scripted movie.
I never felt totally absorbed by it and lost in the moment, films are an escape to some degree and I'm not sure why it missed the mark in this regards. Anyhow, I'll give it 6.9 out of 10. Good movie, but I just don't think I would call it great. The other films I saw from that year that were highly praised are JoJo Rabbit and Once Upon A Time in HW. I liked both of these films more.
SPOILERS BELOW
You watched a family con-artist their way into the rich family, then saw the previous housekeeper return so she could feed her basement-dwelling husband with a baby bottle and thought, "Cliche?"
There was a lot about this film that was top-grade and very original.
Cliche in the sense that it was "another class warfare" film. Sure, it's not like other CW films but it still felt like it.
I didn't dislike the movie. I thought it was different and well made but sometimes even this is not enough for me to give it a really high score. I liked Drive My Car more than this which was another Asian film.
At the end of the day, Parasite felt very contrived to me. I just didn't think it was great but a solid film though and worth a look if you like movies of this nature.
Thanks for clearing that up - that makes more sense. You were speaking more thematically and I was considering the plot itself.
I won't fight you on plot contrivances, because there are several, although I think most of them work within the internal logic of the film.
For instance: it's contrived that the family could set up a fake "Executive Help for Hire" company in such a way that a tech company's CEO wouldn't vet it properly. But, within the film, the daughter is established as being pretty good at faking stuff like that. Plus, one of the recurring elements of the film is that the Park family might have a lot of money, and they might have pretty good lives, but they aren't competent at the everyday (the wife can't cook) and in his zeal to "play the good husband," Mr. Park just took Kim's word for it - especially with that business card! (Shades of American Psycho...) Plus, I've seen enough stories of real-life face-palmers where somebody who should have known better gets duped by a stupid con.
Now, it's fair that you don't like the movie; that's your call. For my part, I liked the comedy, the tragedy, and excellent performances and cinematography. The writing had a quirky feel to it that I vibed with.
As for the social commentary, I don't think I'd agree with the filmmakers on their stances, but class difference is strongly pronounced in South Korea than in a lot of other countries (I think they have a line about this in the film?) I'm not one who follows the mid-far left wing ideas, but I do appreciate good satire, and two families of poor people literally clawing over each other (and worse) to serve the rich is pitch-black satire.
PS
Might have to check out Drive My Car now! Thanks for the recommendation!
You seem quite passionate about this film, Ace.
I actually kind of liked it but I just didn't think it was 'that' good. Seriously, 200 awards?? wow...
It has some good moments but it never felt natural to me.
However, since you liked this, you should definitely check out Drive My Car. It's an awkward film though. Some people hate it. lol...
I like awkward, so I'll see if I can track it down.
I wouldn't say passionate. I'm not going to start telling all my friends to go see it, but I did think it was really, really good.
200 awards... well, maybe not. But awards don't really mean a lot to me. They're so subjective. In the year it won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, for instance, I don't think I would have picked it. I might've gone for The Irishman, which I know a lot of people don't like.
I need to watch The Irishman. it looks like the runtime is almost 3.5 hours. I know I'll get around to it but yeah, I'll end up watching half one day and other half the next.
I do think awards can be useless at times but I like to use them as a guide. They help me decide whether or not I want to spend time watching certain shows and movies. There are so many TV shows and movies available right now that it's become hard to decide what to watch.
Irishman is great, in my opinion. It's a great story, well-written, and basically all of Scorsese's original "gang" are back (De Niro, Keitel, Pesci, etc.) plus Pacino does a DYNAMITE job. It's basically a masterclass in performance.
Where it loses people is the de-aging tech. It's not going to fool you, and while it can make De Niro and Pacino look more middle-aged, there's some stuff where De Niro is supposed to be a LOT younger and it doesn't work. With that said, just mentally prep for that, suspend your disbelief for a few scenes, and the rest is gold.
This is all my opinion, of course, but I thought it was great.
Because it's an awesome fucking movie. It deserved every bit of it's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. As far as Best Picture, I don't think it should have been nominated in that category. I think that accolade should go to a primarily English language film.
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