We've had it in the past with Roma, Amour, Pan's Labyrinth, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to name but a few.
Now we have a feature from South Korea coming into the mix from a brilliant director Bong-Joon Ho. Some of you may be aware of his work from films such as Okja, The Host and Snowpiercer.
With many people calling it his masterpiece, I was certainly intrigued to see what all the fuss about. I think putting the film on such a pedestal, there is that high amount of expectation. So after seeing that, a part of me was disappointed not to initially join that bandwagon. However, not only is there a lot to love and appreciate. But I can certainly see myself labelling it as a masterpiece on future viewings.
The best way to see it is knowing as little as possible about it. It covers the expected topics that you get from a Bong-Joon Ho film. The pacing of the film brewed up the story nicely and made the unexpected twists a joy to experience. I noticed the precision of the story's development. It was like watching a Swiss watch at work.
The ending might not be your typical Hollywood ending and it might not satisfy general viewers. But I think if you know what type of films Bong-Joon Ho, then you will see it as a very satisfying one. It does give a sense of depression and melancholia. But it is a very rewarding final act that completes the overall themes of the film.
All the performances played their part well and gave us a very strong ensemble. All of that was lead by Bong-Joon Ho regular and Korean acting legend Kang-Ho Song. I hope this gives him projects outside of his home country, because he deserves mainstream appeal.
The production design of this is of a high-quality. The cinematography capitalises on its various environments well to get the message across. Also, I noticed the score by Jaeil Jung showed a lot of variety and made this film go through multiple genres.
While it may take multiple viewings for me to discover more of its layers and possibly call this a masterpiece, this is most definitely a well crafted and gripping piece of work.
So much of the story and its development just felt like pure cinema to me and whether you end up liking it or not, it is certainly a film we should all experience.
There's plenty of characters to get invested with, the themes in its are relatable and topical and the twists this film takes catches you off guard virtually every time.
I hope people give this film a chance as I feel it can break barriers with certain demographics with their assumptions on films with subtitles. Bong-Joon Ho is a masterful director even before making this, and it would be a shame for people to never experience any of his back catalogue.
I remember Pan's Labyrinth doing that for people in the last decade, Parasite may have done it at the end of this one.
Rating: 8/10
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