4Parasite (2019)

In Bong Joon Ho’s dark satire, the yuppie Park family lives in architectural splendor in the hills about Seoul. The scrappy Kims fold pizza boxes in a subterranean apartment prone to flooding. When one of the Kims begins tutoring one of the Parks, the have-nots begin infiltrating the lives of the haves, exposing the porous insulation of privilege. The theme of income inequality is exposed throughout the plot like a Russian doll. In college, Bong tutored the children of a rich family in Seoul whose house had a private sauna on the second floor. The experience returned to him in writing the 2020 Writers Guild Award-winning Original Screenplay for Parasite.

READ: Bong Joon Ho reflects on the universal appeal of Parasite, the tale of a basement-dwelling family of have-nots who con their way into a wealthy home.