Parasite is met with praise at Cannes

A standing ovation continued for seven minutes at the Lumiere Theatre in Cannes, France that was filled with some 2,000 viewers.

Korean director Bong Jun-ho’s movie “Parasite,” which was selected for the 72nd Cannes International Film Festival and aired on 10 p.m. on Tuesday (local time), won rapturous applause from the audience. Leading media, such as Guardian and Variety, reported that when the ending credit appeared and the lights came on, the audience erupted with applause. When the applause continued, Bong spoke into a microphone to say “Thank you everyone. Let’s go home” in both Korean and English, but the applause went on.

“Parasite” is Bong’s seventh movie. A wealthy family lives on a house made of marble on a hill, while a poor family lives in a basement infested with bugs. Bong reveals the gap between the rich and the poor by displaying a stark contrast of the two families. The two families become involved as the eldest son Ki-woo (played by Choi Woo-sik) of Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho), whose entire family is jobless, is interviewed by Park (Lee Sun-gyun) for a high-paying personal tutor position.

In a press conference held last month after the movie was invited to the Cannes Festival, Bong said that “Non-Koreans might not be 100 percent familiar with the details,” but it appears that the message came across. BBC chose “Parasite” as the first must-see movie for the “Top 10 films not to be missed at Cannes.”

After the movie was aired, foreign media responded with praise. Guardian gave four stars out of five, praising the movie as “Parasite is a bizarre black comedy about social status, aspiration, materialism and the patriarchal family unit. Parasite gets its tendrils into you.” The Telegraph also gave it four stars saying that “Parasite, a raucous and blood-splattered social satire, will torment you.” Parasite is generally gripping and finely crafted, standing up well as Bong’s most mature state-of-the-nation statement since Memories of Murder in 2003.” Indiewire commented that “under the pall of late capitalism, Bong’s latest offers another compassionate parable that is giddy, brilliant and contrasting. Bong Joon-ho has become a genre unto himself.”

On the other hand, director Bong introduced a letter asking him to refrain from spoilers in Korean, English and French through the materials distributed to the media gathered in the Cannes prior to the screening. He said in a letter, "Nowadays, audiences are waiting for the release of anticipated films, and they are moving away from the usual favorite movie sites, and in many theater lounges, people use headsets to increase the volume of their music," said the audience. It is said that the creators are eager to fall into the movies with emotions. "


Seo-Hyun Lee baltika7@donga.com