Parasite

The scene I analyzed is from the Korean black comedy thriller ‘Parasite‘ filmed by Korean director Bong Joon-ho. Released in 2019. In the same year, Parasite won the Best Picture at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or. And won the 92nd Academy Awards for Best Picture in 2020. There are many wonderful long shots with implicit metaphors in the film. The film tells the story of a family of four people from the bottom of South Korea who are all unemployed vagrants until the son came to the rich boss’s home to apply for tutoring with a forged diploma. Afterward, the low-income family left the narrow semi-basement residence and secretly parasitized in the rich man’s mansion basement.

At the beginning of the scene, it is a close-up shot of multiple people. Every member of the family appeared in this shot, which made me feel the space’s narrowness. Then the screen switched to the world outside the window, which is a low-angle shot. The message I got is that although they live in the outside world, they are still lowly. After that, a person rode a car to light up their world, implying the arrival of hope. The next shot is a medium close-up of a group of people, and the director shoots from a high angle. But the son suddenly stood up and contrasted with the others in the scene. He might be the one who led them to change their lives. Later, Min Hyuk entered their home, the camera switched from the long shot to the close-up, and the director naturally let the new character appear on the screen. Besides, the Min Hyuk visited their home, and the director switched scenes. The first is a wide shot, allowing the audience to feel the living environment near the son’s home intuitively. The next scene is switched to the medium shot. I think the director’s handling of this dialogue is extraordinary. He used the shooting technique is shot-reverse-shot. When the son spoke to Min Hyuk, it was a low-angle shot used by the director. On the contrary, when Min Hyuk speaking the camera angle is high angle and using the over-the-shoulder shot skill. The director cleverly showed the difference in status between them. Also, the performance of the actors added points to the film. I will mention two examples. When the son talks about his life, he keeps his head down, and his eyes do not dare to look at the opposite person. The second is that when Min Hyuk wanted to ask him for help, he hesitated when he picked up the phone to show the son a message, which meant that he did not trust him. Also, what impresses me the most is that their dialogue is closely related to the shots. In the scene initially, when they sat down in the convenience store, the director gave a wide shot. And then, when they were chatting, it was a medium shot. Secondly, when talking about specific things, the director switched to a medium close-up. Finally,  mentioning the son will apply for a job and make fake academic qualifications, the director switched the camera to a close-up. Meanwhile, the director also used Pan shot. Furthermore, when Min Hyuk talked about the hostess’s personality, the director zooms the camera closer. I deem this a clue given by the director; the purpose is to connect the future plot reasonably.