Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you a thriller, drama film from 2019, titled
Parasite. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care. In a small semi-basement apartment in Seoul,
the Kim family does their best to survive. Father Ki-Taek, mother Chung-Sook, daughter Ki-Jung,
and son Ki-Woo work folding pizza boxes for a very low wage and struggle to make ends meet.
This makes them go as far as using their phones next to the bathroom window to be able to steal
wi-fi or keeping their windows open for the fumigator's poison smoke to enter the house and
get rid of the bugs, even if they end up breathing it too. One evening, they're visited by Min-Hyuk,
a friend of Ki-Woo's that brings them a scholar's rock from his grandfather's collection, meant to
be an amulet for wealth. He also brings Ki-Woo a work opportunity: since Min-Hyuk will traveling
abroad soon, he wants Ki-Woo to take over his tutoring of the daughter of a very rich family.
Ki-Woo has good English knowledge after his years in the military and trying out the university
entrance exam four times. Ki-Jung can just fake his papers to pretend he's a university student
since she's good with design programs, and it's not like his employers will look at them closely:
the wife is very simple-minded, so having Min-Hyuk's recommendation should be enough.
Wearing his best clothes and with the forged document in hand, Ki-Woo goes to the Park family's
house, which is on the fancy part of the city. After being allowed inside by the housekeeper Gook
Moon-Gwang, he's interviewed by Choi Yeon-Gyo, also known as Mrs. Park. Just as predicted,
she barely looks at the paperwork and trusts Min-Hyuk's word, but she wants to sit through
the first lesson to check Ki-Woo is a good, proper man. Ki-Woo will be teaching the daughter Da-Hye,
who starts off as very shy and gets startled when Ki-Woo suddenly grabs her wrist, but since
it's only a gesture to comfort her when she's having a hard time understanding the exercise,
she quickly softens up to him. Mrs. Park is happy with what she's seen, so she decides to hire
Ki-Woo and pay him well. After the first class, he also gets to meet her son, Da-Song, who has
joined the scouts and is obsessed with playing Indians. Ki-Woo used to be a scout too, so he
shows understanding, and when Mrs. Park shows him her son's drawings, Ki-Woo gets an idea. He begins
talking about Da-Song's art as if it was truly a masterpiece and when Mrs. Park mentions she needs
a new art teacher because none of the previous ones lasted more than a month, Ki-Woo recommends
his cousin's classmate Jessica, a highly qualified art therapist. In truth, he's talking about his
sister, who also shows up the next day for an interview while pretending to be this Jessica
teacher after just having read some stuff about art therapy and psychology online. While Mrs. Park
talks to her, Ki-Woo tutors Da-Hye, who is jealous of Ki-Woo being friends with the art teacher.
Ki-Woo assures her he isn't interested in her, then the two of them kiss. Back to Ki-Jung,
she convinces Mrs. Park to let her give Da-Song his first lesson alone, and by the end of it,
she impresses her by showing her how well-behaved her son is now. She also shows Mrs. Park signs of
trauma on Da-Song's paintings, mentioning an incident he went through during first grade.
Convinced her son needs art therapy, Mrs. Park hires Ki-Jung under excellent pay. Later that day,
she also meets the family father Park Dong-Ik, who offers his chauffeur Yoon to drive her home. Yoon
insists to take her to her house, but wanting to hide she lives in a poor area to keep up the lie,
she asks him to leave her at the train station because she's meeting someone. During that trip,
Ki-Jung gets an idea and takes out her panties to hide them in the car. The Kim family begins eating
better thanks to their children's new salaries while planning their next move. Meanwhile, Mr.
Park finds the panties in the car and thinks Yoon has been taking lovers in the vehicle, possibly
even consuming narcotics as well because no one in their right mind forgets their underwear in a car.
When Ki-Jung leaves after class, Mrs. Park takes the chance to ask her opinion about the driver,
so she tells her about how Yoon tried to take her home instead of the station. Mrs. Park
decides they'll be firing Yoon under some excuse not to start a scandal, and Ki-Jung swoops in,
saying a mature employee is more trustworthy before recommending her uncle's old driver.
Of course, this man turns out to be Ki-Taek, who used to work as a chauffeur when younger.
He goes for a test drive with Mr. Park, who is impressed by his good manners
and his vast knowledge of the city that doesn't need GPS to reach his location.
His driving is so smooth, Mr. Park doesn't even spill his drink when the car turns, so he hires
him on the spot. The last part of the plan is the most difficult one: Moon-Gwang is a stubborn,
cunning woman that has been working in that house since it was owned by a previous family. Ki-woo
learns from Da-Hye that peaches are forbidden in the house because Moon-Gwang is allergic,
so he and Ki-Jung begin throwing peach fuzz at her when she isn't noticing. Moon-Gwang ends up going
to the doctor for a check-up since she doesn't believe it to be allergies, and Ki-Taek is there
as well as part of the plan. He takes a selfie by making Moon-Gwang appear in the background
then shows it to Mrs. Park while telling her he overheard Moon-Gwang say she has tuberculosis.
At the house, when Moon-Gwang begins coughing because of the allergies, he puts some ketchup
on the tissues in the trash to make it look like she had coughed up blood. Ashamed to have a sick
employee in the house, Mrs. Park makes Ki-Taek promise he won't tell her husband about it,
then fires Moon-Gwang under some excuse, telling Mr. Park she quit. Mr. Park begins to worry about
the lack of cooking and cleaning in the house, so Ki-Taek gives him the card of a prestigious
agency he almost worked for, giving Mr. Park permission to tell his wife that he got the idea.
This agency supposedly provides families with trustworthy employees, but in truth,
it's another ruse by the Kims. The phone on the card is a second number Ki-Jung got for this,
and when Mrs. Park calls, she pretends to be a secretary asking for lots of official paperwork.
Eventually, Chung-Sook is hired as the new housekeeper and the whole Kim family is in.
Da-Song notices they all smell the same, but they realize it isn't the soap: it's the smell of their
old cheap apartment. One day, the Parks leave on a camping trip and leave Chung-Sook taking
care of the house, so as soon as they're gone, the whole Kim family comes over to stay for a while.
They use all the rooms, eat all the food, drink the expensive wines, and Ki-Woo even steals
Da-Hye's diary to read it because he wants to propose to her when she gets into the university.
The Kims spend their dinner fantasizing about what marrying into a rich family would be like
while a storm rages outside when suddenly, someone rings the doorbell. It's Moon-Gwang, who claims
she forgot something in the basement when she was fired and left in a hurry. While her family hides,
Chung-Sook lets her in, but Moon-Gwang is taking too long down there, so Chung-Sook goes to see
what is going on. She finds Moon-Gwang trying to move a cupboard so she helps her, revealing a door
behind it that takes them to an underground bunker created by the architect and previous homeowner.
Moon-Gwang's husband, Oh Geun-Sae, has been living there for years, hiding from loan sharks:
Moon-Gwang helped him move there when the previous owner left and the house was waiting to be sold,
and the Parks never learned about the bunker. Moon-Gwang would go down there and sneak in some
food for him when the Parks weren't looking, which explains why Mr. Park thought she ate too much.
She came today because she knew the Parks would be gone, so she wanted to talk to Chung-Sook alone to
ask for permission for her husband to still live down there, even being willing to pay her for
bringing him food. Chung-Sook refuses to accept this and takes out her phone to call the police,
but at that moment, her family slips off the stairs while trying to spy on them.
Moon-Gwang wastes no time and records them with her phone, capturing on camera the fact they
call each other family names. Now Moon-Gwang and her husband have control of the situation,
threatening to tell the Parks of their ruse if the Kims don't do as they say. They all go upstairs,
where the Kims are made to crouch in a corner while Moon-Gwang and Geun-Sae enjoy the house.
Moon-Gwang even calls them out for being pigs and making a mess in the living room,
because when she and her husband used the house when the Parks were gone, they would always be
respectful of the architect's artful touch. While she's giving them such a speech, the Kims take
the chance to tackle the couch and wrestle the couple on the ground for the phone. Ki-Taek grabs
Geun-Sae and Ki-Jung drops a bunch of peaches on Moon-Gwang to knock her out while Ki-woo takes the
phone to delete the recording. Suddenly, everyone freezes when they hear the house's phone ring.
Chung-Sook picks it up and is shocked to hear Mrs. Park asking her to get dinner ready because
they're coming back earlier since the storm made it impossible to keep up a camping trip.
As soon as she hangs up, the entire family jumps into action: Chung-Sook begins cooking, Ki-Taek
takes Geun-Sae to the basement and ties him up, Ki-Jung hides the trash under the furniture,
and after taking an unconscious Moon-Gwang to the basement too, Ki-Woo goes upstairs to return the
diary. The Parks return right at that moment, so Ki-Woo hides under Da-Hye's bed and Ki-Jung rolls
under the table. Moon-Gwang wakes up and tries to escape, but Chung-Sook pushes her back into
the basement, making her fall and hit her head. Ki-Taek drags her unconscious body to where her
husband is hitting his head against the light switches while following a morse code guide he's
pinned on the wall. Since Da-Song is a scout, he hopes he will see his message one day, but Ki-Taek
finds the idea ridiculous before tying him up to a pipe and leaving. Upstairs, while having dinner,
Mrs. Park tells Chung-Sook about Da-Song's traumatic first-grade experience: one night,
the boy sneaked into the kitchen to steal his birthday cake and saw a ghost coming from the
basement, who was actually Geun-Sae. This caused him to have convulsions and foam at the mouth,
and this is why he's been going to therapy since then and they're never home for his birthday.
Meanwhile, Ki-Woo is almost found under the bed by Da-Hye, but luckily, she picks up her
dog and doesn't look further under the bed. After the Park couple goes to their bedroom,
Ki-Woo and Ki-Taek sneak out into the living room to find Ki-Jung in order to leave, but suddenly,
Da-Song yells and comes downstairs, so the three of them end up hiding under the table.
It turns out Da-Song wants to camp out in the garden under the rain and his parents let him,
deciding to sleep on the couch to keep an eye on him. Now the Kims must listen to the Parks
complain about their smell and get frisky with each other. When the couple is finally
deeply asleep, the Kims get out of the house and run under the rain towards their neighborhood,
which is getting flooded with sewer water. Their apartment is flooded as well, so they retrieve
as many belongings as they can before leaving to spend the night in a local gymnasium that
opens their doors to poor people that have lost their homes to the storm. Ki-Woo has brought the
scholar's rock with him, and he hugs it while he sleeps because he's upset to hear his dad doesn't
have a plan to deal with the problem they left in the basement. Back in the bunker, Moon-Gwang dies
from the concussion she got earlier, and Geun-Sae tries to send a morse code message with the lights
asking for help. Da-Song sees it and deciphers it, but it's nonsense. Geun-Sae isn't in his
right mind to spell correctly and only ends up with a bloody forehead. The following day,
Mrs. Park decides to throw an impromptu party for Da-Song's birthday, and the Kims must put up their
best friendly faces even when they're actually feeling devastated after losing their home.
Chung-Sook must cook and prepare the tables outside, Ki-Taek must drive the parents around
to buy all the party supplies while they keep making faces at his smell, and the siblings must
put up their smart teacher personas since they're invited to the party as very important guests.
During the party, Mr. Park and Ki-Taek dress up as Indians because they're planning to make
a whole act for Da-Son to save his cake. After spending some time with Da-Hye, Ki-Woo takes the
scholar's rock and goes down to the basement, where he's jumped on by Geun-Sae, who somehow
has managed to free himself. After stopping him from fleeing with a cord around Ki-Woo's neck,
Geun-Sae knocks him out with the rock then leaves the bunker, grabbing a knife from the kitchen on
his way to the garden party. Seeking to avenge Moon-Gwang, Geun-Sae runs out and stabs Ki-Jung.
Da-Song begins having a seizure as soon as he sees him while Da-Hye finds Ki-Woo's body and carries
him out to ask for help. Ki-Taek goes to check on her daughter, trying to keep a hand on her wound
to stop it from bleeding while Chung-Sook jumps on Geun-Sae and kills him with a barbecue skewer.
Mr. Park doesn't care about any of his employees, he just wants to take his son to the hospital,
so he demands Ki-Taek to drive him. But Ki-Taek doesn't want to leave his family behind, so he
throws the keys at him so he can drive himself. The keys fall on the grass, and at that moment,
Geun-Sae falls on top of them. Mr. Park goes to retrieve them, but even during such a deadly
emergency, he covers his nose while moving the body. Enraged by such a despicable act, Ki-Taek
takes the knife and kills Mr. Park before fleeing the scene. Weeks later, Ki-Woo wakes up from brain
surgery. The injury and the procedure have left his mind in a delicate state, so he can't help
laughing through all the things that proceed to happen to him: finding out his sister is dead
and his father is missing, getting arrested, being putting on trial for fraud, being allowed to leave
on probation because of the traumatic incident that they aren't charged for because it was on
self-defense. He only stops laughing when he sees the news report recording the now empty house,
making everything that happened feel more real. Neither he nor his mother knows where his father
is, but the detectives keep on tailing them for a while, thinking they may take them to him. Months
later, after the news finally moved on onto other subjects and the cops don't follow them anymore,
Ki-Woo goes up the mountain and spies on the Park's house, which is now occupied by a German
family that bought it because they didn't know its history. There, Ki-Woo realizes someone is
using the lights to send a message in morse code: it's his dad, who all this time has been hiding
in the house bunker. He has buried Moon-Gwang in the backyard and survives by raiding the kitchen
every night. He also sends the morse messages every day, hoping his son would see them one day.
Back in his old apartment he still shares with his mother, Ki-Woo writes a letter for his dad,
promising to work hard and get enough money to one day buy the house and reunite with him.