Parasite (Gisaengchung) from Korean director Bong Joon-ho is one of the crown jewels of fall movie season. The film took home the coveted Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and is a lock for major award consideration in this season’s biggest races. North American fans have spent two-years waiting for their next Bong Joon-ho fix. And now, a new trailer is here to offer some relief — or make the wait more excruciating.
Parasite trailer:
If you’re not familiar with Bong Joon-ho’s work, I can’t recommend his filmography enough. His last film, Okja (2017), is currently on Netflix and offers a clear window into the director’s sensibilities. He subversively uses genre movies to deliver explosive social commentaries that are both thrilling and heart-wrenching. Okja looks like a fluffy riff on E.T., but I promise that it will change the way you think about eating meat. And the director makes his point without coming across as finger-wagging.
Critics and fans consider his sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer (which is being adapted into a TV series) a modern classic. The film, which stars Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, features intense action while also taking shots at society’s oppressive ruling class. It’s pulpy, violent, and thought-provoking.
And you can’t journey on a Bong Joon-ho deep-dive without checking out Mother and The Host. Give them a watch and you won’t regret it.
Parasite 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.
For more on Parasite check out our video review from That Shelf’s Managing Editor Jason Gorber.
Parasite arrives in U.S. theaters on October 11, 2019.