Press event for film ‘Parasite’ held Tuesday

“I could erase fear for cinematically novel developments thanks to my colleagues, and a great ensemble with them helped me act,” said Song Kang-ho.

Bong Joon-ho’s black comedy film “Parasite,” which became the first South Korean film to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, was first released for press in South Korea Tuesday. The press event held in Seoul was attended by director Bong Joon-ho and main actors to talk about behind-the-scenes stories and messages of the film, which crosses through different genres.

Choi Woo-shik and Park So-dam, who starred in the film as Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho)’s son and daughter, said that they enjoyed the filming and it felt like they were doing it with real family members. “It was fun and I was so happy as if they were actually my family,” Choi said. “From the moment I read a scenario, I felt like Ki-jeong’s lines were just mine and wanted to play this character right away,” Park said. “I was worried at first because this was the first time for me to work on such a big film, but every single scene was enjoyable and precious,” Jang Hye-jin, who starred as Ki-taek’s wife, said with tears welled up in her eyes.

Song, who led the movie until the very last scene with his signature acting, asked the audiences not to forget the message that “Parasite” tries to convey to the public.

“The film has invisible elements such as ‘smell’ or ‘goodness,’” Song said. “I hope that, while enjoying the movie to the fullest, we can have an opportunity to look back on ourselves and think about whether we have locked ourselves up in society.”


Seo-Hyun Lee baltika7@donga.com