Parasite (2019) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Bong Joon-ho

Starring:  Song Kang-Ho, Lee Sun-Kyun, Cho Yeo-jeung, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Lee Jeung-eun, Chang Hyae-jin

This isn't Crazy Rich Asians.   Parasite is a tale about a poor family which isn't virtuous, and a rich family which isn't amoral or cutthroat.   The poor Ki-taek family maneuvers its way into the wealthy Park family through devious means, while the only thing the Park family does wrong is trust the Ki-taeks.   Something is bound to go wrong, and when it does, it does spectacularly and bloodily.

The Kai-teks, consisting of a father (Kang-Ho), a mother (Hyae-jin), an older sister (So-dam), and a younger brother (Woo-shik), who all have zero jobs between them.   They live in a basement dwelling which floods during heavy rains and can only achieve cell phone service by standing in just the right place to feed off of a neighbor's Wi Fi.    They try folding pizza boxes for a living, but manage to screw that up too.    One day, a family friend takes the brother out to dinner and tells how he is an English tutor for the wealthy Park family's oldest daughter.    The friend is going abroad, and talks the Kai-tek son into posing as an experienced, college-bound tutor.    The Parks are impressed, and their daughter now has a new English tutor.

Through fiendish means, the Kai-tek clan manage to gain employment with the Parks as a driver, housekeeper, and art expert to tutor the Parks' artistically gifted son.    There is the small matter of removing those already employed in those positions, which is done swiftly and mercilessly, and with the Parks not suspecting a thing.    The Kai-tek family is now experiencing steady paychecks and can finally witness how the other half lives, but this comes to a grinding halt one stormy evening.

I won't reveal what happens next, except to say the lives of both families are soon forever altered.   Just because the Kai-teks are selfish, opportunistic louts and the Parks are generally good, albeit troubled people, does not mean that fate or karma will punish the Kai-teks or reward the Parks.   The full scale of the treachery is eventually discovered, but by then so much damage has been done.

Parasite is able to switch its tone on a dime.   The first hour, as the Kai-teks position themselves to work for the Parks, is darkly satirical, but then the torrential rainy night hits, and the satire goes away while the darkness remains.     The film then turns Hitchcock-esque, if that's even a word, but the viewer will recognize the style when he sees it.    Parasite is South Korean film with subtitles, but hopefully this doesn't dissuade viewers from seeing it.   I prefer subtitles to dubbing because with dubbing you are always trying to observe how closely the words match the lip movements.   Subtitles or not, if the movie is compelling, the words on the screen will soon fade into the background.   Parasite is odd, absorbing, tragic, and a film in which not everyone gets what they deserve, while a happy ending remains an unreachable fantasy for those still left standing.