This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
From the Pits to Peachy Keen
Plot Overview
A family of four inhabits a semi-basement
flat in a big city of South Korea. Socks are hung out to dry, a bum
regularly pees outside their window, they get fumigated on schedule,
and they're infested with stink bugs. Theirs is the odor of poverty;
they “smell like old radishes.” Their low tier menial
labor offers them little to no hope of escaping that condition.
Then a contact of the son secures for him an unlikely English tutoring position in a wealthy household. By hook or crook the whole family under false pretenses gets hired on in various capacities. Eventually the chickens come home to roost.
Ideology
(Prov. 30:7) “Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:” There are two salient points associated with college-age son Kim Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik,) aka Kevin, come to tutor high school sophomore Park Da-hye (Jung Ziso,) and 20-something daughter Kim Ki-jung (Park So-dam,) aka Jessica, come to tutor adolescent son Park Da-song (Hyun-jun Jung.) (Prov. 30:8-9) “Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.” “Jessica” passes herself off as a renowned expert on art psycho-therapy who is expensive to retain and requires multiple weekly sessions. It's all a crock, of course, i.e. vanities. “Kevin” must forge his college papers as he's flunked every college entrance exam he's taken. His student status is a lie, though to be sure, he does have a facility with English that he teaches the girl—supposedly teaches as the pair is easily distracted. The big house can be a scene of both feast and famine, and it's only later that some of the poor family sets realistic goals.
(Prov. 30:10)
“Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee, and thou
be found guilty.” The driver of the well-heeled father Park Dong-ik
(Lee Sun-kyun), Yoon (Park Keun-rok), must be discredited so the poor
patriarch Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho) can be hired to take his place, but it
has to be done surreptitiously (“I left a trap in the Benz”) so his accusers can avoid sticking their necks out.
(Prov. 30:11-14) “There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.” Ki-woo's college friend Min-hyuk (Park Seo-joon) gives him a gift: a philosopher's rock passed down from his grandfather that is supposed to bring prosperity to those who possess it. At first it seems to do just that, but eventually it'll be rolled out of sight along with ancestor respect after the mother Kim Chung-sook (Chang Hyae-Jin) does a vicious number on the settled-in housekeeper Moon-kwang (Lee Jeung-eun) to get her out of the way so she can replace her in service to the house mom Park Yeon-kyo (Cho Yeo-jeong.)
Production Values
“” (2019)—orig. titled Gisaengchung—was written and directed by Bong Joon-ho, co-written by Han Jin Won. It stars Choi Woo Shik, Song Kang Ho, Chang Hyae Jin, and Park So Dam. Note: I've placed the surnames first per Korean convention. The acting was seamless as done by a well-rehearsed troupe.
MPAA rated it R for language, some violence and sexual content. The language was relatively tame and the sex marital. The violence, however, was bloody and protracted. The film was done in Korean with English subtitles, and with a smattering of English.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
The prolific names were hard for my western ear to keep track of, but the parts were themselves self-revealing, we could pretty much figure out who was doing what. Some of the juvenile jokes were used more than once, so it helps to have a basic sense of humor. The melee at the party was macabre. Just when you think you're watching one kind of movie it turns into something else. Predictable it was not.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well, at least you can't see the strings. Video Occasion: Specialty audiences. Suspense: Don't watch this movie alone. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
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