Director
Bong Joon-ho
Leading Actors/Actresses
Song Kang-ho, Choi Woo-shik
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Park So-dam
Genre
Tragedy, Comedy, Satire, Thriller
Language
Korean
Awards
Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature
Date of Release
May 21, 2019
Producer
Kwak Sin-ae, Moon Yang-kwon, Bong Yok-cho, Jang Young-hwan
Setting and Context
An unnamed South Korean city
Narrator and Point of View
No narrator
Tone and Mood
Often comic, satirical, dark, unsettling, suspenseful.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist: The Kims. Antagonist: Geun-sae, Moon-kwang, and to some extent, the Park family
Major Conflict
The major conflict is that the Kim family must keep their true identities secret while they work in the Park household. If they are discovered, they will be fired. They must also contend with Moon-kwang and her husband, who is living in the basement bunker, and threatening to expose them.
Climax
The climax occurs at the garden party when Geun-sae stabs and kills Ki-jung, and Ki-taek murders Mr. Park.
Foreshadowing
The stink bugs foreshadows the way that smell plays into the film. The rock that Ki-woo's friend gives to the family foreshadows the violence that will eventually burst out. Ki-taek and Chung-sook pretending to be violent with one another foreshadows the violent outbursts as well. When Ki-woo comments on Ki-jung's abilities as a graphic designer and forgery artist, it foreshadows her getting employed as Da-song's art therapist.
Understatement
The Kims have a rather understated response to most of the events of the film, taking everything in stride, until the very end of the film.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
Allusions
Allusions to North Korea and nuclear warfare, to colonialism and imperialism, to class struggle.
Paradox
Ki-taek manages to escape the police after murdering Mr. Park, but he cloisters himself away in the bunker, unable to be with his family.
Parallelism
Ki-taek living in the bunker is parallel to Geun-sae living in the bunker. Chung-sook and Moon-kwang are parallels for one another. When the Kims stay at the Parks' house, they are parallels for the wealthy family.
