If you haven't seen this film, then stop reading right now and watch it, because there will be spoilers. Ready? OK, you've been warned. Now, unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that this won the Oscar for best picture (much to Donald Trump's contempt) and in general has been raved about, which was a bit unfortunate, because if I'd approached it blind, as with the (surprisingly similar) Barbarian, I think I would have been more impressed. Now, that's not to say that I didn't think it was good, just that nothing could really live up to the hype. Also, I knew that there was a big twist coming in the middle, and it wasn't quite big enough. Anyway, the film opens with the Kim family, who live in a grotty subbasement in Seoul, and are down on their luck. The parents have been through a string of failed businesses, and the son, who has done military service (he looks in his early 20s) and daughter dream of getting into college and art school respectively, but there seems little hope of that. Not only that, but the person they were stealing wifi from has just changed the password, and it's neither 123456789 nor 987654321.
They make do by folding pizza boxes, but even then, 25% of the boxes are subpar, so they don't get paid in full.
However, the son (Ki-woo) has a buddy who made it to college, is about to go study abroad and doesn't trust his fratty college buddies to take over his tutoring job while he's away, because he's sweet on the teenage girl he's teaching and only trusts Ki-woo not to move in on her (a trust that is misplaced, as it transpires). The fact that Ki-woo isn't in college isn't a barrier, thinks the friend, because he's studied enough for the entrance exams and the sister (Ki-jung)'s art skills extend to forging credentials. Also, it helps that the mother is a bit simple, or at least, easily fooled. Well, Ki-woo goes to the address he's given and finds that it is a house designed by a famous architect, who also bequeathed the incredibly competent middle-aged housekeeper when he sold it to the Park family (rich tech guy father, bored and possibly drugged mother, teenage daughter (Da-hye) and young (7 ish?) American Indian-obsessed son Da-song. Ki-woo (whom the mother decides to call "Kevin," in the first hint that the rich get to do with the poor whatever they damn well choose, however polite and generous they may appear) easily impresses both mother and daughter (who immediately falls for him) and not only that, but sees an opportunity to get his sister hired as art teacher to "troubled" Da-song. Well, his sister is even more brazen than he is and affects an art-therapy-guru guise as "Emily," fresh back from Illinois and able to diagnose Da-song (who, in fact, appears perfectly normal and healthy) from features of his paintings. The next challenge is to get their parents hired. The father is quickly hired to replace the young chauffeur, who is fired because Ki-jung leaves her underpants in the back of the car to make it look like he's been using it as his own personal shag-wagon. Getting rid of the housekeeper is more of a challenge, in part because the Park family are so dependent on her, but her allergy to peach fuzz proves to be her undoing, as the whole Kim family work together to make it appear that she has TB and is trying to hide it.
And just like that, the Park family is supporting the entire Kim family, without knowing that any of them are related. The only scare is when Da-song points out that they all have the same weird smell, which isn't surprising, given the cramped, ventilated quarters they have to live and cook in. But things are looking good when the Park family head out for a camping trip for Da-song's birthday and the Kim family have the beautiful house to themselves for (they think) a weekend. They are just in the middle of a drunken meal,
when, as a biblical rainstorm is happening outside, they get a visit from the previous housekeeper. Everyone hides except the Kim mother, who grudgingly lets the old housekeeper in because she needs to collect something. Well, that something turns out to be... her husband, who has been living with very little food in a secret sub-basement that the architect never told the Park family about. The housekeeper installed him there to hide him from loan sharks after his businesses went under, much like the Kims'. It looks like this isn't going to be too much of a problem for the Kims, until the rest of the family fall down the cellar stairs in a heap and the former housekeeper videos them letting slip that they are related. She twigs that they got her fired and threatens to send the video to the family (she's been texting Da-song, which is how she knew that the Park family were out). They all go upstairs and the husband gets to stretch his legs and eat as the couple mock the Kim family (the woman showing surprising North-Korean-newscaster-impersonation skills)... until they let their guard slip and the family jumps them. Just then, the phone rings. The rain has canceled the camping trip and the Parks are nearly home! So the Kims frantically stuff the couple in the sub-basement and clean up and are still caught in various parts of the house - Ki-woo under Da-hye's bed, Ki-jung under a table in the living room, and so on. There follows an excruciating night when father and both kids are under that table and the parents are fooling around on the couch, where they are staying because Da-song insisted in camping in the garden in his little teepee. Eventually they escape, only to find that their apartment has been completely flooded with sewer-water and they have to spend the night on the floor with hundreds of others displaced by the floods. And then they're called back by the Park family to help with a huge party for Da-song.
But what to do about the couple trapped in the secret basement? Well, they should have left well enough alone, because... carnage ensues. And that's enough spoilers.
I haven't even mentioned the strange rock that Ki-woo's friend left him with and with which he becomes weirdly attached (to his near-fatal detriment),
or the Morse code system operated from the secret basement.
What's it about? Well, it's been widely interpreted as an anti-capitalist film, but I think it's more accurate to say it's about class. And very vividly so. If it's accurate, jobs are incredibly scarce in South Korea, which is why getting into university is so cutthroat, even though a university degree doesn't even guarantee you a job in the service industries. As you might gather from the plot points, though, it's hard not to think that Barbarian was influenced by it. Does every house have a sinister secret sub-basement complex? And if you find it, you should just board it up and forget about it.
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