Welcome to The Best Movies I’ve Never Seen! This is the part of the blog where I work my way through 100 films I’ve never seen that are generally considered to be great. You’re invited to watch along with me if you can find a copy or find it streaming. So grab some popcorn and let’s get started!

Parasite

2019

Directed by Bong Joon-ho

Surely you’ve heard the buzz about Parasite, the genre-bending Korean thriller from director Bong Joon-ho. This critically acclaimed film took home top prizes at Cannes, the Golden Globes, and the Academy Awards, including the first-ever Best Picture win for a non-English language film. Parasite’s clever plotting, incisive social commentary, and masterful filmmaking make it a must-see.

The film centers on the impoverished Kim family, who scheme their way into jobs working for the wealthy Park family. Through a combination of lies, manipulation, and taking advantage of others’ misfortunes, each Kim lands a role in the Park household: tutor, art therapist, driver, and housekeeper. But their inhabitation is threatened when the Parks’ former housekeeper tries to blackmail the Kims after discovering their ruse. Tensions boil over in a shocking crescendo of violence that reveals the savage underbelly of both families.

Bong crafts each frame with meticulous care, using the home’s architecture to reflect the characters’ social positions. The Parks’ minimalist mansion is a pristine haven of modern affluence, while the Kims’ semi-basement apartment is a dingy prison flooded with sewage. Staircases become metaphors for social mobility as the have-nots infiltrate the haves’ inner sanctum.

The ensemble cast is in top form, especially Song Kang-ho as the Kim patriarch Ki-taek and Cho Yeo-jeong as the vain Mrs. Park. But the true stars are Bong and co-writer Han Jin-won, who lace the thriller plot with black humor and stinging commentary on economic inequality. Audiences will squirm as they recognize their own prejudices about class and privilege.

Parasite provides no easy answers, only holding up a mirror to reveal the ever-widening chasm between rich and poor. The gut-punch ending casts doubt on the prospect of positive change. But the glimmer of hope comes from the film itself – proof that art can expose society’s ills better than any lecture. See Parasite. Get uncomfortable. Let it fester under your skin. The experience will stick with you long after the credits roll.