The visual delight of Parasite (2019) in stills.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
After a very long time I watched a film that made me very, very happy.
Bong Joon-ho (Director) collaborated with Lee Ha-Jun (Production Designer) making this tragicomedy an extremely riveting watch.
The genius of this film is something else!
I’ve compiled my favourite stills from the film here…
The highlight of Kims’ house is obviously the toilet which has a commode perched on a flight of stairs, leaving no room for the person to even stand. This makes the most essential part of one’s day, the toughest. While the inconvenience of this is evident, the characters’ nonchalance about it is shocking and telling of their resignation. Now, if you’re wondering why the commode is perched up there, it’s because of drainage challenges faced by houses which are built below the ground level, to mitigate low water pressure. An interesting piece of trivia I learnt while reading about the semi-basement houses (Banjiha) rife in Seoul.
Kims’ apartment is cluttered, sordid and gritty and is in stark contrast with the luxurious apartment that the Parks live in.
The spaces that the characters occupy are in themselves a telltale. The film and the stills are breathtaking because we know that Parks’ apartment is designed from scratch, keeping the aspect ration of the film (2.35:1) in mind.
Other quirks I couldn’t get my eyes off of…
Further down the rabbit hole, the imagery is even grimmer but the oddity of the characters give these spaces a sort of dark humour.
The visual landscape of the film is generally intense sprinkled with a few very pleasant moments.
Sources:
AmazonPrimeVideo
Artdepartmental.com
Indiewire.com
Vulture.com
