Kung Fu Stuntmen - Junzi Wei 2020

Here’s some L Corp OCs I made years ago, trying to practice the art style of the game. From top middle clockwise: Eugene, Kora, Marzia, Marcus, Jason, and Jeong-Ho.

THE KING: ETERNAL MONARCH (2020)

21 FILMS OF THE 21ST CENTURY Parasite (2019) dir. Bong Joon-ho

Lee Ho Jeong for Vogue Korea (2015) Photography: Cha Hye Gyeong

Imma need Bong Joon-Ho, Hollywood, or whoever will listen: cast this man as your next villian in a psychological thriller. Guranteed masterpiece.

Parasite, dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2019

"I thought I wouldn't be fooled, but that face is my one weakness." "What do you mean?" "You have a look of anxiety. Something that Jeong Tae Eul doesn't have. You're not Jeong Tae Eul."

Spoke Art has released Memories of Murder and Parasite posters by Guillaume Morellec. Each 24x36 screen print is limited to 100 and will ship in 5-7 weeks. They're $65 each or $115 for the pair.

'material from script was shortened during editing'?????? 'missing chemistry that only the actors could see'??????? Netflix what is this behavior

Parasite (2019)

Parasite is the kind of wholly original film that’s impossible to predict. It also has a lot to say about our world, which means there’s no way you’ll be able to catch everything on a single viewing. With plenty of dark laughs, the kind of suspense that will have your stomach in knots, an ending that sticks with you and masterful direction by Bong Joon-ho, it’ll knock you right off your feet - even if you’ve seen it before.

Kim Ki-taek (Song Kang-ho), his wife Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), their son Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik) and daughter Ki-jeong (Park So-dam) make ends meet by snatching up whatever prospect comes their way. One day, Ki-woo finds a job tutoring Da-hye (Jung Ji-so), the daughter of the wealthy Park family. Sensing an opportunity, the Kims scheme, lie and fake their way into the household.

Part of what makes Parasite such a wild ride is that you never know who you should be cheering for or what the movie wants you to feel. When we first meet the Kim family, they’re scrambling around their dump of a semi-basement apartment looking for a free wifi signal so they can get a shipment of pizza boxes sent to them. Folding the boxes is how they’ll pay for their next meal. When they submit their work, part of their earnings is deducted because 25% of the boxes are badly folded. There are four family members. A quarter of the boxes are no good. Hmmm… There’s something funny and pathetic about the way they manage to screw up such a simple, honest job but excel at conning their way into the Park household. The more elaborate and extravagant their scam becomes, the more they thrive. You know it’s wrong, but there’s something "admirable" about their resourcefulness and determination. You don’t feel too bad for the Park family. Aside from Ki-jeong, everyone is actually doing the job they’ve been hired to do and there’s no way she’d get away with spinning her bullshit into dollars if Mrs. Park wasn’t such a dummy.

Then, your feelings about the Kims start changing. It’s one thing for them to exploit the Parks, whose wealth is wasted on them but this quest to get all of them on the same payroll means taking away jobs from other people. As we eventually find out, the current housekeeper of the Park family, Gook Moon-gwang (Lee Jung-eun) REALLY needs this job they’re stealing from her. As the film progresses, Bong Joon-ho shows us how the lap of luxury has made the Parks into ugly, entitled snobs. The more we see of the parents (Lee Sun-kyun and Cho Yeo-jeong), the less we like them. The thing is, the Kims are not much better. They’re also recklessly gobbling up the jobs in their employer’s household at the expense of everyone else. The people currently employed? they’re obstacles to be toppled over, not people with similar plights to their own. They never have a goal to make enough money to move into a nicer home. Their goal becomes to have THIS home, a building they know is too much for two parents and two children. While all of these people are on opposite ends of the financial spectrum, they both disregard others equally.

It would be criminal to give away the big surprises that come at the end of the film - and you probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you what they were anyway. Revealing all the intricacies of the scam would be just as heinous. The proof is that even upon multiple viewings, it’s a horrifying delight to see it play out the way it does. I do want to discuss the very very last scene, however. In the film, it’s presented as hopeful, a long-term strategy Ki-woo will follow to get the family what they desire the most. It all seems good but when you take a step back, you realize how hopeless it is. That final moment is about how wide a gap is between the rich and the poor. It's not about leaving us with a smile on our faces. It’s not as clear as it would be in a documentary but it’s a thousand times more impactful - and entertaining.

Parasite is mesmerizing, the kind of film you want to watch over and over so you can fully appreciate everything. It’s full of surprises, masterfully directed and certainly as good as everyone is saying it is. (Original Korean with English Subtitles, July 25, 2022)

TONEGAWA x OGBAEM MAFIA 🐍 Kozo and Tae-yong belong to @burukaji! The others belong to me!

Behind the Scenes of Parasite (2019)