Parasite (2019)

Act like you own the place.

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

Directed by: Bong Joon Ho

Written by: Han Jin-won, Bong Joon Ho

Music by: Jung Jae-il

Starring: Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Lee Jung-eun, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, Jung Zi-so, Jung Hyeon-jun

Genre: Comedy, Thriller, Drama

Released: 2019-05-30

Runtime: 133 minutes

Rate, review and log Parasite on Film Reality, see where to watch it, its soundtrack and what everyone else thought.

Parasite (2019): trivia & fun facts

Fun facts

• The film was originally scheduled to be screened as a closing film at FIRST International Film Festival Xining in China on 28 July 2019, but on 27 July, the film festival organisers announced that the screening was cancelled for "technical reasons".
• An original song, "Soju han jan" (소주 한 잔; lit. 'A glass of soju'), written by Bong and performed by Choi Woo-shik, who plays Ki-woo, is heard during the film's end credits.
• A fictional architect, Namgoong Hyeonja, was created as the home's designer and previous owner, and production designer Lee Ha-jun considered the house's form and function based on how Namgoong would design it.
• After completing Snowpiercer, Bong wrote a 15-page film treatment for the first half of Parasite, which his production assistant on Snowpiercer, Han Jin-won, turned into three different drafts of the screenplay.
• On 5 February, Parasite became the first Korean film in nearly 15 years to surpass one million filmgoers in Japan.
• In the UK, it broke the record for the opening weekend of a non-English-language film, making £1.4 million ($1.8 million) including previews over its debut weekend, from 135 screens, and in Australia it took in over $1.9 million.
• On the same site, Parasite was rated the best film of 2019 and ranked seventh among the films with the highest scores of the decade.
• Filming ran from May to September 2018 and included cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo, editor Yang Jin-mo, and composer Jung Jae-il.
• Parasite premiered on 21 May 2019 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it became the first Korean film to win the Palme d'Or.
• In 2025, The New York Times ranked it as the best movie of the 21st century so far in a list based on a vote by readers, actors, and directors.
• Principal photography for Parasite began on 18 May 2018 and ended on 19 September.
• Bong said he was inspired by the Korean film The Housemaid (1960) and the 1930s Christine and Léa Papin incident.
• The black and white transfer of the film was overseen by Bong and cinematographer Hong Kyung-pyo.
• Joshua Rivera of GQ gave a glowing review and declared that Parasite was possibly one of the best films of 2019.
• In 2021, the Writers Guild of America ranked Parasite's screenplay the fourth-greatest of the 21st century so far.

Source: Wikipedia

Play 10 questions. Test yourself on Parasite and see how everyone else answered.