Rotten Tomatoes: 99% —– IMDb: 8.6/10 —– Meta Critic: 96% —– Empire: 5/5
The reviews say it all so I will warn you that this isn’t much different from the mass opinion of apparently the entire world. However, I personally don’t think I would rate it 99% or even 5/5.
“Greed and class discrimination threatens the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.” This is all you need to know going into the film plot-wise. It’s important that you don’t know what to expect as the film is evermore effective because of it. It follows the poor/rich divide throughout South Korea in a beautifully shot and often funny way.
The plot is wonderful, it’s definitely best to go in blind so I won’t say much about it but it is unexpected and seemingly shows the realities of South Korea wonderfully. It is also worth noting that even though it is a foreign film, the subtitles definitely don’t take any of its beauty away.
As for how it’s shot, it’s simple but creates this wonderful emotion behind each camera movement, it’s tense when it needs to be and leaves you snickering when it wants you too.
The sound was by far the highlight of this film. I found myself turning around on multiple occasions thinking the people behind me we’re talking. But no, it was the fantastic sound design fully immersing you into every scene. I thought it was a subtle but fantastic addition to an already brilliant film.
My one critique would probably be that it felt rather slow at some points and I occasionally found myself unsure of where the story was going.
Overall I thought this is an amazing film and it 100% deserves every success it has received.
9/10
The Film Nerdette