Parasite (2019) reviews

The Fuzzy Mushroom take on Parasite

By Fuzzy Mushroom · Updated 11 November 2026 · The Pros 98 · The Punters 100 · Spore Score 99 · How we write our takes

Why The Pros and The Punters agree

Parasite has one of the highest Spore Scores on the site, 99, and almost no gap between the camps: The Pros 98, The Punters 100. Critics and audiences rarely line up this neatly on a subtitled film. Bong Joon-ho managed it by making a thriller that works as entertainment first and as social comment second, so neither side feels short-changed.

What it does well

The Kim family live in a cramped semi-basement flat in Seoul, folding pizza boxes and stealing wi-fi. When the son, Ki-woo, gets a job tutoring the daughter of the wealthy Park family, he sees an opportunity. One by one, the Kims talk their way into the Parks' glass-walled house. Then, on a rainy night, the house reveals a secret of its own.

The first half plays like a heist comedy, sharp and quick. The second turns into something far darker without ever feeling like a different film. The house itself, designed for the film, is used brilliantly: every staircase leads further up or further down, and the downpour that floods the Kims' street while the Parks admire the weather is one of the clearest images of inequality in recent cinema. Song Kang-ho, a long-time Bong collaborator, is superb as the Kim father.

Anything wrong with it?

Very little. Some viewers find the violence of the final act abrupt, and the film's ending can feel cruel. It is better seen knowing as little as possible.

Context

Parasite won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2019 and then four Oscars, including Best Picture, the first time a film not in English had won the top Academy Award. It also won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature.

The Fuzzy Mushroom verdict

Must-see, with a Spore Score of 99. Funny, tense, angry and endlessly rewatchable. If you have been putting off the subtitles, this is the film to stop putting them off for.