“Parasite” dominated the 92nd Academy Awards in 2020, winning four awards including Best Original Screenplay, International Feature, Merit for Directing and Best Picture; being the first non-English Language film to do so.
The film’s legacy has undeniably impacted global cinema and is a part of Hallyu, the Korean wave of global pop culture.
Bong-Joon Ho’s masterpiece is coming back to theaters to celebrate five years since its historical award campaign, and the release of Bong’s newest project, “Mickey 17” starring Robert Pattinson and Steven Yeun, in theaters on March 7.
“Parasite” focuses on the Kim Family, led by Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) as they infiltrate the Park family. The first half of the film is focused on each member of the family tricking the Park matriarch Choi Yeon-gyo (Cho Yeo-Jeong) into hiring them in different roles as tutors, a driver and a housekeeper.
Once the Kims have successfully conned their way into the Park family home, they revel in their winnings as the Parks are on a camping trip. They spread themselves out around the house, eating their food and drinking their alcohol.
It is during this peaceful moment, drunk and lounging in the spacious living room, the audience starts to feel uneasy at how conclusive this celebration feels for the Kims and their story.
We watch as Ki-taek and his wife, Chung-sook (Jang Hye-Jin), ‘playfight’ before laughing it off. The abrupt grab from Ki-taek shocks us all, including the children.
These awkward and tense moments between the family members, along with the pounding rain outside, create a tense atmosphere that is broken by confusion when the doorbell rings.
In the screenplay, the doorbell rings on the 71st page. It’s both the figurative and literal halfway point of the script and marks the start of a new film that is revealed in a reestablishing shot of the living room.
The camera is now in the position of a large window in the living room. Before this, we were in close-up shots of the family close together, but now the cut to the wide shot divides the audience from the Kims and displaces us.
The caller outside starts to incessantly ring the doorbell as the Kims creep closer to the security camera’s screen, it shows Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun), the previous housekeeper the Kim’s manipulated the Park’s into firing, standing right in front of the camera of the doorbell.
The rest of the Kim family continue to cower as Chung-sook answers the doorbell.
Moon-gwang begs to be let in to get something she forgot in the basement and the Kims allow her in, hiding and blocking her view of the trashed living room.
The audience and Chung-sook get a few glimpses of Moon-gwang’s swollen face as she’s guided to the basement, as though she’s been punched before she got to the Park home.
This reintroduction to the wet and bloody housekeeper unnerves everyone further as she eerily asks the camera in a close-up shot if Chung-sook wants to come down to the basement with her, still smiling as if she works there and is showing the new person the ropes of the job.
She fades into the dark steps of the basement alone, but the Kims’ curiosity is not satiated. We follow her down soon after, not knowing what’s to come.
Before this shift in the film's storyline, the Kims were originally discussing Yeon-gyo and the Park family being “nice because [they’re] rich,” a luxury the Kims don’t have when they discover Moon-gwang’s “secret.”
The Kims, willing to do anything to keep their own secrets safe from the Parks, resort to hiding the presence of Moon-gwang’s “secret.” Their desperation is their demise.
“Parasite” is a Hitchcockian story about the lower class desperately trying to get higher in social class, hoping to be rich enough to be kind, but ultimately failing in their attempts.
“The doorbell scene” represents the end of what the audience expected “Parasite” to be, and instead shifts the Kims’ story from one of triumph to an unexpected hurdle that ultimately causes their downfall.
“Parasite” will be re-released in IMAX starting on Feb. 7 at AMC Georgetown and AMC Tysons Corner.
This article was edited by Alia Messina, Marina Zaczkiewicz and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks.
