Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Kang-ho Song | ... | Kim Ki-taek (as Song Kang Ho) | |
Sun-kyun Lee | ... | Park Dong-ik (as Lee Sun Kyun) | |
Yeo-jeong Jo | ... | Park Yeon-kyo (as Cho Yeo Jeong) | |
Woo-sik Choi | ... | Kim Ki-woo (as Choi Woo Shik) | |
So-dam Park | ... | Kim Ki-jung (as Park So Dam) | |
Jeong-eun Lee | ... | Moon-gwang (as Lee Jung Eun) | |
Hye-jin Jang | ... | Kim Chung-sook (as Chang Hyae Jin) | |
Ji-hye Lee | ... | Singer | |
Ji-so Jung | ... | Park Da-hye (as Jung Ziso) | |
Myeong-hoon Park | ... | Geun-se | |
Seo-joon Park | ... | Min | |
Keun-rok Park | ... | Yoon | |
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Seong-Bong Ahn | ... | Man Provoking Quarrel |
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Kang Echae | ... | Special Guest |
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Jeong Esuz | ... | CEO of Pizza Place |
Jobless, penniless, and, above all, hopeless, the unmotivated patriarch, Ki-taek, and his equally unambitious family--his supportive wife, Chung-sook; his cynical twentysomething daughter, Ki-jung, and his college-age son, Ki-woo--occupy themselves by working for peanuts in their squalid basement-level apartment. Then, by sheer luck, a lucrative business proposition will pave the way for an insidiously subtle scheme, as Ki-woo summons up the courage to pose as an English tutor for the teenage daughter of the affluent Park family. Now, the stage seems set for an unceasing winner-take-all class war. How does one get rid of a parasite? Written by Nick Riganas
What an amazing film! Clearly an essay on the class divide. Writing lovable but nasty people is tough, but perfectly executed here.
They quite clearly cross the line, and when I mean "they" I mean bother the working class and the upper class. You could easily argue that "parasite" refers to one family trying to suck another family dry. Or that the upper class is draining the labour of the lower class, and expecting them to be grateful about it too! There is also something about the American Indian theme, a metaphor for dying cultural traditions which are being replaced by modernity? Nature is dog eat dog? Or is it a homage to an "idyllic" past where Native American culture was relatively classless?
Either way a must watch if you can handle subtitles!