Great movie. As Bong Joon Ho said in an interview, there's only one country in the world now, and that's capitalism. It transcends borders and that is why Parasite has resonated so well in the US and in Europe.

Also, as an aside, Choi Woo Shik, who is great in this film, has just signed up to do a movie with Suzy directed by Kim Tae Yong (director of Late Autumn starring Hyun Bin and Tang Wei). Has he already served his military service? He was born in 1990 and it seems like a lot of contemporaries are currently enlisted (i.e Go Pyo Kyung or Park Hyung Sik) or already served (i.e. Jung Hae In and Park Seo Joon)...

Really want to watch it but it won't be available in cinemas nereby so I'm hoping it's available somewhere online.

Lee Seon kyun and Jo Yeo jung were just fantastic as the parents Park. I was thinking the entire time with them, they are a couple that deserve each other so they will not have to inflict their being on other people. I found myself thinking about what life would be like for them after the movie ended and it wasn't pretty and also, it is what they deserved.

This was a good film and what happened is just what you expect but still shocking because the world is like that and there is that denial that some of us have thinking that it is not.

I think the most poignant moment for me was at the very end.

SPOILER (though I'm keeping it vague)

That joining the system and climbing up the social ladder to become rich himself is the only thing he can think of to help his family KILLS me, because it's so accurate to real life.

Thank you @laica <3.

I've been rooting for this movie since pre-production and then Cannes and all the way to the Oscars. Let's hope it'll be another first for South Korea.

I hope Bong's next film will be with Ha Jung-woo. I love Song Kang-ho to pieces but he has been in 5 Bong films already.

I agree it was fantastic. My only question is the use of Native American imagery, was it intentional? Native Ameticans have gone through enough being used as props, so I hope that wasn't the case here.

Thanks for the review! My local theater just started showing this movie this month. I want to go watch it as soon as I get some free time!

Thanks for your review, @laica. I just saw this film Sunday morning at the cinema with my family and can't stop thinking about it. After assiduously avoiding all press and video, I'm now gobbling up reviews, thought pieces, and Eng-subbed cast interviews.

None of the American reviewers I've read—present company excepted—mention watching Korean dramas. Having watched SKY Castle, I had a better understanding of how disadvantaged the the two Kim siblings were compared to their wealthier peers. Did anyone else catch that the forged college certificate was from Yonsei University?!

Gi Jung and Gi Woo are clearly bright kids—but it's not enough to get into Korean university. At some point, the kids went to a good school with the likes of the Park's former tutor, Min Hyuk. But I can imagine the family slipping downward economically as the parents cycled through dead-end jobs.

I'm grateful I managed to catch this before it left my small city. I held off watching a bootleg online and loved sharing this experience with audience that cackled, gasped, and applauded alongside me.

I was very impressed by Jo Yeo-Yung. she brought a madness to being privileged.

I'm particularly glad that I made the effort to see this film in the theater just this morning (so, thanks @laica for writing this review and getting it posted while everything is still quite fresh in my mind) because visually there are some scenes that are particularly impactful up there on that large screen. Bong Joon Ho's use of space and light here is sometimes breathtaking even when what it happening is anything but beautiful.

I'm glad I only knew, in the very broadest sense, what this film was about, so watching the destruction unfold was both darkly humorous and terrifying. I want to go on and on, but also don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't seen it yet.

Reading the positive reviews make me want to watch this movie. I didn’t think it would be in my local theaters, but it is! I’m too chicken to watch it on a big theater screen though.

Great review. I also enjoyed Bong Joon-ho's other films. I loved the cinematography, the raining scenes were amazing, so much detail to keep an eye on.

All the praise here has been said so I will say is that the film is a masterpiece. The swift of genre tones, cinematography, direction, acting, and etc. was magnificently presented here. What is has to say about class, how we treat others, what is our role in society, and many more are presented here that is specifically Korean but is all the more universal for it.

A rousing achievement, and surely one of the year's or imo decade's best films of the 2010's. Definitely going to win South Korea it's much deserved and awaited Oscar for Best International Film, and a slew of other nominations as well. I hope that this means that the younger cast (Park So-Dam/Choi Woo-shik) career's gets a huge boost from this!!

Side note- Bong's next film is going to a Korean language film as well but a Horror-Action one :O I can not wait for the Korean cast he conjures up, he and Park Chan-Wook choose great Korean actors for their films (Imo they act the most natural/strongest).

I NEED to watch this!! I'm sure it'll be added in my favorite korean films list among with Train to Busan, The Taxi driver and Midnight Runners.

Some bits were really good - like the scenes of the flood or the recurring theme with the smell of poorness. The violence felt a bit gratuitous, but i could appreciate the poetry of the little man struggling for survival and accidentally bursting the perfect bubble of the privileged in the process, the fake savagery of the Indian playacting hiding the real savagery beneath... The movie tried to make a lot of deep statements about the have and have nots, desperation and entitlement. Mostly successfully, although to me it felt like trying too hard at times. I referred to it as pretentious before and I stand by that assessment. More than anything, the movie felt like a piece intended for Cannes critics acclaim. Additionally, in the attempt at universalness the movie lost most of its Korean-ness which explains the movie's broad appeal but is still a big negative in my books. Overall... it did some things very well but i did not love it at much as most people did.

One thing I love in this movie is how fast-paced it is without sacrificing the momentum that showcase the turning point of the characters.
Post-watch me felt uneasy not because of the murders, but rather due to the drastic change of the poor characters. The way they're portrayed makes me feel as if they know what they're gonna do given the opportunity, and they're like rats/cockroach waiting in the dark for the appearance food and just the smell of it is enough to begin their move. They're smart and cunning, and in a way, as an audience I was fooled with their transformation- from an ordinary family struggling with poverty to a team of professional conmen knowing the ins and outs of their target and the environment.
The duality of the poor is something I thought was done brilliantly in the movie. They're both the refugee and the colonist. They're trying to take the opportunities in the new place, at the same time manipulating the rich and eyeing for the chance to swap their lives with the rich's.

Thank you @laica for the write up! I missed many of the nuances in the film when I saw it (I am so bad at these things!) but it was still very thought provoking and enjoyable at the same time. So I really appreciated your review and for pointing them out.

I would say it might be better to watch it with an open mind and not worry about the references and then read the reviews soon after so you can savour the nuances and brilliance in the mind or during a re watch. And defintiely in a cinema if you can.

I caught it long ago when it just came out and I’m so happy you all did a review here. I blogged about my thoughts but certainly it’s a pale poor one compared to Laica’s one here!

Will you all be doing one for Kim Ji Young, Born in 1982? I’d LOVE for you all to do that and it would be a great movie for discussion too!

Just watched the film, and needed to come here to read the review and the Beanies' comments! It is a brilliant, funny, unsettling and ultimately depressing, but for good reason. Loved it!