Parasite

After the international spectacles of Snowpiercer and Okja, master filmmaker Bong Joon Ho returns to his Korean roots with this suspenseful, satirical black comedy—winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes—which functions both as a devastating social critique and a brilliantly executed exercise in pure cinema à la Alfred Hitchcock. Kim Ki-taek (Bong regular Song Kang Ho) and his family of reprobates live in a squalid basement apartment, which floods when it rains, and eke out a living folding (badly) boxes for a pizza joint. When son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik) lies his way into a job tutoring the teen daughter of the rich Park family, the stage is set for the whole Kim family to insinuate itself into the Park’s luxurious home. What follows is too delicious to spoil here, but rest assured it is brilliantly unpredictable, ingeniously conceived, and gorgeously designed.

‘Another wickedly clever tale from the director about class and survival, Parasite is a brilliant tonal juggling act that defies easy genre categorization. It fuses dark satire, suspense, and tragedy with incisive social commentary. It’s an exhilarating rollercoaster ride that keeps you guessing at every sharp turn, and by the end, leaves you a bit paralyzed by its magnificence.’—Oliver Whitney, GQ