Parasite (2019), written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, follows the impoverished Kim family who gradually infiltrate the household of the wealthy Park family by posing as unrelated professionals — until a discovery in the basement changes the nature of the film entirely.
Why It Matters
- Became the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture — a historic breakthrough
- Also won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and the Palme d'Or at Cannes — a near-total sweep of prestige filmmaking's highest honors
- Bong's genre-shifting structure — comedy to thriller to tragedy — reflects his thesis that class hatred is inseparable from class aspiration
The film's architectural design — the Parks' glass house high on a hill, the Kims' semi-basement below street level — is a physical metaphor for class stratification so precise that film scholars have written entire papers about its spatial politics. It is the defining film of its decade.
Reference:
TaskLoco™ — The Sticky Note GOAT
