Palme d'Or Winner "Parasite" Gets a Haunting, Funny Trailer

Scene from Parasite (2019)

Things are looking to be very exciting this Oscar season, especially if director Bong Joon-Ho is involved. With Indiewire already naming his latest Parasite among the best films of the decade, the Palme d'Or winner has received nonstop praise for the Korean director and has lead many to wonder if it can truly live up to the hype stateside. While it's a longshot to argue that a foreign-language film will make the cut, there's still room to suggest that Joon-Ho will given his impressive track record and recent success with the Netflix film Okja. The first trailer for Parasite is here to start making arguments as to why he needs to be taken seriously this season. One can hope that everyone listens. 

It should be noted that the world around foreign language films and the Oscars are changing yet again. In some respects, last year featured an impressive breakthrough with Roma clenching a Best Picture nomination and Cold War joining it in a Best Director nomination. Similarly, several of the films nominated in major categories were foreign-language titles with less cache. These patterns have come before in the Oscars, though it has rarely stuck around for multiple years. The last noteworthy example came with Amour in 2012, which even then felt like a bigger longshot of winning. With the announcement that Best Foreign Film has also been renamed Best International Film, there's a sense that world cinema is being taken more seriously.

As it should be. Joon-Ho is a director whose career has been continually exciting and full of unexpected turns. He's made great monster movies (The Host) as well as the great dystopian train drama Snowpiercer. With Okja he continued to take the genre into more respectable places. Parasite sounds like it will be another turn into the genre, though many are arguing that it will be going into some weirder and more profound places for the filmmaker. If nothing else, he has the long career that The Academy may love to reward simply because of his creativity and ability to make world cinema more exciting to conventional audiences. 

Check out the trailer below:

Looks rather curious. Here's the plot description according to IMDb:

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

The thing that's exciting about it beyond the glowing reviews is the atmosphere of the film. Much like other recent examples of great Asian cinema (Shoplifters, Burning), there's something dark and ominous about the central characters in their personal environments. This isn't so much about horror as it is creating a dark comedy that comments on something social. With that said, the music is undeniably tense and makes one wonder what is going on behind the scenes. There's still a lot of mystery around the film, especially about what makes it a Parasite in the plot. It's the type of thriller that could produce something memorable or fuel conversation in meaningful enough ways that it sticks with audiences and becomes the slow burn hit it likely will be.

While the past few days have produced a lot of trailers for potential Oscar nominees, it's important to remember the outliers that could still make the cut. Films like Dolemite is My Name and A Hidden Life may be longshots, but they all have the chance to surprise still in ways that Parasite can. These are all legends in the film industry fighting for some credit. Joon-Ho could be the latest to join the Oscar conversation, though it will all depend on how well the film plays. Few Palme d'Or winners ever crossover with Oscars outside of some lower-tier categories. It would be exciting that if this is indeed the New Academy that they will produce an even more exciting and strange series of nominees. One can hope this is good enough to make the cut.