Neon has released the first trailer for Bong Joon-Ho’s dark comedy about classism, Parasite. The film recently won the Palme d’Or unanimously at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, which the highest award you can win at the festival.
Parasite follows two families of different classes the Parks and the Kims. The Parks are filthy rich, while the Kims have wealth in street smarts. Their worlds are about to collide when one of the Kim children takes an offer to tutor the Parks. Soon there is a budding relationship between the two parties, for which the Kims seem to exploit and take advantage of. However, When a parasitic interloper threatens the Kims’ newfound comfort, a savage, underhanded battle for dominance breaks out, threatening to destroy the fragile ecosystem between the Kims and the Parks.
Based on the trailer alone, it looks like Parasite will have to juggle a lot of tones from the comedic to the dramatic, and sometimes even tragic. I don’t quite know what to make of it. And that is what makes it so intriguing.
Furthermore, the trailer pulls a few quotes from those who saw it at Cannes. Sites like Vulture say “you expect it to be one thing, but it mutates into something else,” The NY Times saying “an urgent story of class, told in the most sensually entertaining way, ” IndieWire calling it “A Magic Trick,” and Slashfilm saying its a “twisted ride and gets under your skin” A lot of these are ringing endorsements if I ever saw one, and it just makes me want to see the film even more.
Here’s the official plot synopsis:
“Meet the Park Family: the picture of aspirational wealth. And the Kim Family, rich in street smarts but not much else. Be it chance or fate, these two houses are brought together and the Kims sense a golden opportunity. Masterminded by college-aged Ki-woo, the Kim children expediently install themselves as tutor and art therapist, to the Parks. Soon, a symbiotic relationship forms between the two families. The Kims provide “indispensable” luxury services while the Parks obliviously bankroll their entire household. When a parasitic interloper threatens the Kims’ newfound comfort, a savage, underhanded battle for dominance breaks out, threatening to destroy the fragile ecosystem between the Kims and the Parks.”
Parasite stars Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, and Park So-dam. It opens in theaters on October 11, 2019.
