I don’t find myself trafficking in hyperbole or superlatives very often, but Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite is a cinematic masterstroke that deserves every bit of its widespread acclaim. A film that defies both genre and expectation, Parasite is a complex and scathing meditation on class and human nature that bends to the director’s razor-sharp whims. Easy to love and difficult to categorize, Bong Joon-ho’s latest is undoubtedly the best film of the year. This review will detail some broad plot points, so if you prefer a pure experience, I suggest not reading any further. Minor spoilers ahead…

If you’re at all versed in director Bong Joon-ho’s storied oeuvre, then Parasite will undoubtedly trigger pangs of familiarity. But even with the patience of Memories of Murder, the tragicomedy of The Host, the gravity of Mother, the class warfare of Snowpiercer, and the whimsy of Okja as ingredients, the famed South Korean director’s latest film thrives as a different organism altogether; a gripping puzzle box that consistently slips from the coils of convention, Parasite is a ceaselessly entertaining meditation on class and human nature. Few filmmakers command a mastery of tone as potently as Bong, but what lives within this particular Palme d’Or winner is akin to a cinematic chameleon: a twist-laden narrative that effortlessly shapeshifts from comedy to drama to thriller with liquid ease. Perhaps the most ringing endorsement that could be given to Parasite is that many will ask what the film is about, to which there is only one good answer: “You just have to go and see it.”

Parasite ultimately boils down to a tale of two houses - two families galaxies apart in caste and circumstance - brought together in a simmering powder keg of confrontation. The Kims live in relative poverty, and form a close-knit nuclear unit of petty hustlers. While the family is savvy and street-smart, their wiles are mostly spent on snatching free wi-fi and sweet-talking their employer, a local pizza shop for which they fold boxes. For the Kims - patriarch Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho, a Bong Joon-ho regular), his wife Chung-sook (Chang Hyae Jin), and two children Ki-woo (Choi Woo Shik) and Ki-jung (Park So-dam) - their cozy hovel and little victories in making ends meet are a way of life. But when a unique opportunity arises for Ki-woo, it changes his family’s entire trajectory: forging a college diploma with the help of his sister Ki-jung, he secures an English tutoring job for the wealthy Park family a few neighborhoods over. Insular in their wondrous and modern mansion, the Parks - especially the comfortable Mrs. Park (Cho Yeo Jeong) - represent the most obliviously moneyed rung of the hegemony. Taking full advantage of Mrs. Park’s naiveté and parental paranoia, Ki-woo flatters and manipulates to better not only his own station, but his entire family’s.