That was a bit weird. It was quite OK i think... the only annoying point was that throughout the whole movie I just wanted to shake the people and say "just do something you idiots!".
When I started watching I didn't know that it was also thriller and horror so it came a bit as a surprise.
Poor Mr Kim, young girls keep throwing themselves at him. Unfortunately they're all crazy. Eun-Shim Lee is wonderful as the unhinged housemaid. Beautifully filmed, the camera is quite lively as the story gets stranger. The music was odd too, very 60's, didn't expect that from a Korean art house movie.
Amazingly directed and photographed. I liked the ending because of the psychoanalytic implications of it being a story within a story but I guess it can feel like a bit of a cop-out. I'm at a point in my life where I just enjoy those types of eccentricities. It doesn't take away from the film, I think. This was very, very good.
Seeing as it was once named one of the greatest Korean films ever, Ki-young Kim's The Housemaid (1960) probably loomed large at home, so I am not surprised at all that Bong Joon-ho acknowledged it was an inspiration for Parasite. There's a similar upstairs/downstairs quality, where the "good folks" of a house can still be bad when they act on their privilege, and a downstairs villain who we can nonetheless empathize with, and it's also about unsavory elements being brought into a household under the guise of a servant. Otherwise, it's a very different film, part melodrama, part suspenseful sexual thriller, part Greek tragedy, in which a piano teacher experiences a nightmare when girls from within and without the household become obsessed with him and threaten to destroy his family life. The unhinged housemaid is adept at manipulating and blackmailing, but gets more than she bargained for (which is where the audience's empathy comes in). It's an unpredictable story where a simple look or hesitation creates tension. By all means, ignore the last 30 seconds (or enjoy them for their oddity), which were a reaction to the film's true ending being "too intense". It's terrible.
A bit too in-your-face, unsubtle and message driven, but it's other qualities were stretching from really good to great. The maid managed to be quite intimating, and the whole situation was horrifyingly surreal. It's essentially what Fatal Attraction would have been if the woman lived in your house.
And yes, the ending, which was a moralizing epilogue to all men, was really god damn poor.
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Comments 1 - 15 of 18
Marazmatique
Well this certainly got more and more bizarre as it went on...MariV
That was a bit weird. It was quite OK i think... the only annoying point was that throughout the whole movie I just wanted to shake the people and say "just do something you idiots!".When I started watching I didn't know that it was also thriller and horror so it came a bit as a surprise.
ClassicLady
Brilliantly sinister and scary. But that ending! How odd. How wonderfully photographed, even if it was strange.steamRobot
Poor Mr Kim, young girls keep throwing themselves at him. Unfortunately they're all crazy. Eun-Shim Lee is wonderful as the unhinged housemaid. Beautifully filmed, the camera is quite lively as the story gets stranger. The music was odd too, very 60's, didn't expect that from a Korean art house movie.ucuruju
Amazingly directed and photographed. I liked the ending because of the psychoanalytic implications of it being a story within a story but I guess it can feel like a bit of a cop-out. I'm at a point in my life where I just enjoy those types of eccentricities. It doesn't take away from the film, I think. This was very, very good.Siskoid
Seeing as it was once named one of the greatest Korean films ever, Ki-young Kim's The Housemaid (1960) probably loomed large at home, so I am not surprised at all that Bong Joon-ho acknowledged it was an inspiration for Parasite. There's a similar upstairs/downstairs quality, where the "good folks" of a house can still be bad when they act on their privilege, and a downstairs villain who we can nonetheless empathize with, and it's also about unsavory elements being brought into a household under the guise of a servant. Otherwise, it's a very different film, part melodrama, part suspenseful sexual thriller, part Greek tragedy, in which a piano teacher experiences a nightmare when girls from within and without the household become obsessed with him and threaten to destroy his family life. The unhinged housemaid is adept at manipulating and blackmailing, but gets more than she bargained for (which is where the audience's empathy comes in). It's an unpredictable story where a simple look or hesitation creates tension. By all means, ignore the last 30 seconds (or enjoy them for their oddity), which were a reaction to the film's true ending being "too intense". It's terrible.Carota
holy maccaroni. that ending.Dieguito
Disturbing movie. Strangest ending ever. But I liked it..St. Gloede
A bit too in-your-face, unsubtle and message driven, but it's other qualities were stretching from really good to great. The maid managed to be quite intimating, and the whole situation was horrifyingly surreal. It's essentially what Fatal Attraction would have been if the woman lived in your house.And yes, the ending, which was a moralizing epilogue to all men, was really god damn poor.
frbrown
What a creepy film.What an awful ending.
lebear
What a creepy family. Poor housemaid who got tangled up in their mess.Moresbi
Thoroughly fascinating.lineuphere
What a crazy ride. Beautifully photographed and that ending was such a fascinating choice.red.hexapus
what the hell, ending...? what... the... hell...?figzzz
Now that's an endingShowing items 1 – 15 of 18