Dan O: Hello and welcome to Rotten Onions, a movie podcast with layers. Every week we watch and review a classic or critically acclaimed movie, ultimately deciding whether or not we think it is better or worse than Shrek One. Is this movie better than Shrek One? Find out on Rotten Onions Get Out Ma Swamp. I am Tikas Gaines, and alongside me in this endeavor is Dan O. I'm thrilled to be here. First of all, maybe if anyone is curious, like why is Shrek 1 the standard? Honestly, the only reasonable explanation is that it is. Yeah. We didn't make it the standard. It just is. There is the period in time before Shrek 1, and then there's after Shrek 1. And all movies. fall under that context. And that's what we're talking about. This is the standard. So yeah, that's how I'm feeling. I feel I feel excellent. We do have an opening segment this week. the weekly swamp. Dan, you said you had something tonight? Yeah, so weekly swamp. we're just gonna kinda this is like a quick catch up of hey, here's a thing that I thought about or happened this week. I don't know if this is anything, but this is also why we call it the swamp, because Swamp takes live here. It's not that anything really happened. I guess I just had an epiphany this week that like I get confused about Mexican food dishes a lot. Confused about what? I'm glad you asked. It's really just because that so many of them have the same like ingredients. It's always like a tortilla base. huh. But then if somebody like folds it differently, suddenly the dish has a new name entirely. Yeah. It's like I could put I could put the same ingredients into like a corn tortilla and if I don't roll it up into a thing then it's a taco not a burrito. Yeah. Yeah, I guess those I guess those are the rules. I don't know any other cuisine that is so dependent on the way that you fold one of the ingredients. Yeah. But it seems like that is make or break in this cuisine. Because I mean Italian food it's similar but not quite Italian food is like the same dish, just different noodles. Yeah, yeah, and I don't think I don't think they say noodles, but I know what you mean. Pasta, sorry. I didn't No, you know, I I'm just hey, this is you know, we're culturally. And for everyone at listening, you'll hear that same sentence said, but swap out the word Italian for any other race or group of people probably on a weekly basis on this. I don't think that's gonna happen. So do you have anything for The weekly swamp. you know what, guys? Here's the thing. I bought a firework for the 4th of July. And I bought that firework on July 3rd. And I had a like a little over 24 hours to light that sucker up. By the way, one firework, they gave me five different wicks. The girl the girl looked at my one firework, looked at me, and was like, You're gonna need all of these. That's how Stupid or uncoordinated, she thought. Do you have any idea how long? Anyway, I bought the firework and I I couldn't be at home that night. I had to leave to stay the night somewhere. so I just didn't light the firework. So I now I just have a firework for a f for a year until the next fourth of July comes around. And I'm pretty upset about it, honestly. Is this an expensive firework? No, it was pretty cheap it was like twenty dollars maybe. Yeah, I'd be upset too. Yeah. What do you think I should do? hmm. I would find whoever that firework salesperson was. They packed up and left. So what do they use? Fake names? You can't find this person? I didn't get their name. I wasn't like at the checkout asking for their first and last legal name. But they're they should be easy to find. I don't who do you think I am? Leave Neeson? Okay. All right. Well now you got a firework for twelve months. Yeah. And maybe maybe at one point we'll do taken as well. 'Cause that's actually a good that's a good movie. It shouldn't be good, but it's good. That's how I feel about most Liam Neeson movies. There's one in particular that I'm thinking of. He worked with a guy named Spielberg. Yeah, that's the one. That's the one. Okay. I gotta stop interrupting. That's it for The Swamp. Yeah. This week. The Swamp's Over. Never again. The Swamp's Over. It's just look, I don't I don't understand tortilla dishes that much. I know that I like a lot of them, but I c there's too many names and it's like origami meets food and kind of just figure it out already. So that's my that's my swamp take of the week. What do we got next? Can we get into the movie? I would love to get into the movie. You wanted to talk about this movie for like three weeks maybe a month, and we haven't been able to record yet. Parasite, all right. that's the movie we're talking about today. A South Korean film directed by Bong Jun-ho. Released in 2019, it follows the poor Kim family as they infiltrate the home and life of the wealthy Park household. Additionally, it was made for a budget of $11.4 million, and it has become the 25th highest-grossing domestic film in South Korean history. In 2019, It was the 31st highest grossing movie worldwide at $258 million. Four spots behind Crazy Alien, a Chinese film where a monkey trainer's act goes awry after an alien crash lands on Earth and injures his monkey. Desperate to perform, obviously, he attempts to train the alien instead, but is punished after the alien regains his power. Parasite was also $226 million shy of Shrek One's worldwide total, proving once and for all that audiences crave animal-based entertainment over art. Parasite was also nominated for six Oscars, including Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture. It won four. Interesting. Big for Parasite. First foreign film ever to win Best Picture. That's kind of a good Segue just for what it's worth into the entire reason we chose this as the inaugural movie. Cause it's so easy to be like, We're gonna start this movie podcast and let's let's find some movies. Some people were suggesting movies to us like Godfather, right? And I'm like, let's get a good movie in here. So we decided on Parasite. it's recent, obviously critically acclaimed, kind of cleaned up at the awards, the box office. cleanly, yeah. So kind of a worthy adversary in a lot of ways. that's what that's why that's why we picked it. I I for one was really excited going into this. I I'd heard a lot about Parasite, but I'd never actually looked into it or sat down and watched it. So when did you I think you suggested it. I was I might yeah, also because I always wanted to see it. Yeah, yeah. I've like yeah, I heard Kinda like it's a little bit of a wild ride kind of thing. And the end's gonna leave you like, whoa. It's one of those movies where the end leaves you like, whoa. You know those kind of movies? So I was really excited going into this. Dan, did you like it? yes. Yes, I did. Okay. I like it. You did like it? I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it. Generally. Yeah, why? What are your first impressions and thoughts? so Sort of I learned something about myself. I think I put thoughts to a feeling I've had for a while after watching this movie. I think the main way I experienced this film is sort of similar, believe it or not, to how I experienced Goodfellas. I have a tough time enjoying a movie where the main protagonists are just like bad people. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And they keep doing inarguably bad things. I just I can't root for them. It's very hard for me. Does that make sense? Yeah. I would say. I would say. I was conflicted the whole time. I think you start watching the movie and you're like, these aren't really that bad of people. They're in a tough situation, but anybody in that situation would do what they need to do. In order to survive, and you start there, and I think, I think you're supposed to start there. I don't know what the director's intentions really were, but as like as an audience member watching it for the first time, I'm more sympathetic to them. And then it starts to take, and the whole thing, this whole thing, by the way, is filled with spoiler alerts. Like if you haven't seen it, you know, but it starts to take a twist when I think the driver gets fired. Kind of out of nowhere, like I was very confused about that scene in general. I was just actually planting this. He was kind of being he was being sketchy, kinda. He was like not taking no for an answer for a while. And so he was like, he's a little sketch of a guy. And then you start to think, like, what what are the limits of the where does the family draw the line? You called them bad people. Did you did you feel that way? The entire time. Or was there a point in the movie that made that switch for you? It it was sort of there underneath I didn't like not from like the very beginning of the film. Like at the very beginning of the film, they're struggling, but like they're together, they're they're getting through it together as a family, they're finding ways to make it work. They're they're folding pizza boxes for money and they're doing it together. They're struggling, but like they seemed like normal. people who are trying to g do what was right and get by. And then out of nowhere, kinda, the son's just like, I'm gonna do a con. My best friend told me I could he wants me to do a con. I'm gonna do a con. And then listen, okay, you know, it to answer your question, I've it I thought of something I really wanted to talk to you about. But to answer the question before we get into that, it it sort of felt it it felt like there was n almost no Hesitancy once they decided they were gonna scam these people and also get other decent people fired from their jobs so that they could scam their way into those jobs. It felt almost like that was inevitable for them. Like there was so little resistance, it felt like. Like it felt like the most resistance was just the one conversation the son has with the friend. He's like, Do I have to forge documents and lie to them? And his friend's Yeah. And he's like, Okay. You're totally right. There is l little to no resistance. Did you feel bad for the parks at all up to sort of that point in the movie? Cause like they don't seem like like they're rich, but they don't seem like bad, very bad people. Especially at that point in the film. No, I don't I don't think necessarily that the rich park family were bad people. But that said, they were all really stupid people. Mostly the the mother. Madam of the house? Yeah, like So the Madam of the House is is the dumbest character, I think, that I've seen maybe in any movie. It's so oblivious, is so gullible. And I'm trying to piece it together from a writer's perspective and maybe think she would do anything to protect her family the same way that the poor Kim family will do anything to secure their next meal. And you start to think about it that way, and maybe some of the actions are justifiable, but I mean one. One kinda session with the daughter who is like, Hey, your son has this nightmare and paints this thing, which means that he's an insane person and I am the only one that can get him out. And then like she just buys it, she right? Like, doesn't hesitate to do a thing to help her kid, but also no follow up questions. I mean, the one the one credence I'll give her is he did start behaving out of nowhere. So it did sort of seem like maybe she had a connection with him that other people didn't. And so with that in her mind, it could sort of lend her to be more agreeable to what she was saying. That's fair. So like let's take a step back a little bit 'cause we're getting into the the conflict that is like should we or should we not feel bad for the these people? And is there anybody in the movie that we feel bad for at the end of it? Maybe we'll get to that at the end of this review, but like generally. Generally, what did you like about this movie or or dislike about this movie? So it honestly, I don't know if I it just didn't it at no point did it really connect with me. Like I I couldn't find myself getting invested in this movie. And at like the halfway point, there's a scene where like the the Kim family is all together sort of cutting loose, hanging out. And I found myself as that scene dra I would say dragged on, I found myself realizing I literally hate this scene right now. I hate what's happening. This is terrible. I'm hating my experience of watching this movie at this moment. And then sort of like the whole twist of the entire movie happens, and it re-engaged me enough that I wasn't actively hating the movie anymore. So that did pull me back in to a degree. But it got the fact that it got to that point was really upsetting to me. So what is the most redeeming feature or quality of this movie? Like what is why why would this movie even be considered good? Cause this wand, this cleaned up. It did, it did. And that's part that it really baffled me. I was like, what am I not getting, you know? Cause I'd say it's at least in my opinion, ninety, ninety-five percent very competently made. But I never really felt like it w was rising above to the level of excellence. Except there was one scene when the secret tunnels, secret tunnel is revealed. the the one the one moment is when it's first revealed and we're chasing Mrs. Ken down through the winding staircases. The the camera choice in that I really liked. I really enjoyed that. But that was like the only moment that stood out to me at all in the cinematography. And it just it felt kinda like it was engaging to a level, but it never I really n I just never connected with it. It never nothing stood out to me in any way. Hmm. Okay. Okay. Okay. the cinematography to me was the first thing that stood out. Literally the the first note that I have written down, ten minutes in, cinematography is a ten out of ten. Really? And it's just the way that it's really hard to explain. So there's like a fun sort of reveal pattern that I noticed a few times where like the camera would stay focused on somebody and then something else was kind of happening off screen and the camera would like quickly rotate over to that person. So, like as an audience member, I'm trying to catch up with not only what's happening in frame, but then there's a story happening outside of frame that's about to it's a lot to explain, but for me it's just a good way to keep the attention there in general. I just like the the way that the movie looked. There were a lot of shots that kind of jumped out to me, but like I would say just in general, like I'm a huge fan of directors that let actors act. And when I watch a lot of newer movies nowadays, I feel like there's even like there's so many cuts. It's like why how many c there's so many cuts. in one How many different takes are they stitching together here? That exac that's exactly it. And I just feel like there were enough noticeable instances to me where actors got extended camera time and could just let them act and as an audience member it's easier for me to then relate to them, not relate to them, at least have like a justifiable opinion about what I'm watching, the more time that the actors just get to be on screen with each other. So cinematography, storytelling, and plot, all to me. Excellent. And you see what you're saying now, it it's also kind of why this movie frustrates me. Cause I n I normally I love cinematography and everything. And people like they scream about how good the cinematography is. You're saying you loved it ten minutes in. You were like, This is incredible. And it's it really annoys me. Cause like the acting and the cinematography that you're talking about, it normally that's what I love about movies that I love in a lot of ways. But I don't know what's wrong with me when it comes to Parasite. I couldn't get into it. I don't know if maybe since it was my first time watching it with the language barrier, with the subtitles, I would just couldn't focus in the way that I normally would. And that was somehow getting in between me and connecting with the movie. But I've watched other foreign films where I didn't have that problem. So I just I don't know what it is, but I couldn't get on board with Parasite. Do you bring up something super interesting though in subtitles? Just in general. Do you watch any do you watch content with subtitles ever? I don't I never I I ha unless it's I need them 'cause it's a foreign film like this or something like that. I hate having subtitles. And then when I think about my exper I watch everything with subtitles. I watched The entirety of the Shrek franchise. What's that's just maybe not four, sorry. But I'll watch most of them with subtitles. So for me, I'm already in that behavior. So I I mean, maybe that's kind of what took you out of it at first, but at no point were you like pulled in by the tension of it. I think of the most tense scene in this movie. I don't know if you'll agree, but to me the it does start when the entire poor Kim family is in this mansion. And they're all getting drunk in the living room and it starts to rain outside. And then suddenly, like, it clicks. That right before all of this happened, the madam of the house said, Hey, we're gonna go camping. And then there is a moment where I think the daughter is on the couch and she is drinking from a bottle. And this sort of like chaotic family scene. ensues and nothing insane happens. They're just all really energetic and then lightning strikes and it's kind of like quiet for a beat. And that to me is when that tension starts because we know if you're paying attention, the family that's on a camping trip is coming back. Did they realize in that mo I felt like they were being I felt like the the Kim family was being very stupid. I didn't feel like they at any moment realized what was happening, that it was a big storm while they were out camping. Did you realize enjoyable about it to me is because yeah, they The characters didn't realize it, but as an audience member, just if you just are picking up the hints that they're giving you, it's you know, kinda easy foreshadowing to put together. They said they're going camping and now there's a huge storm outside. I do want to talk about that the this moment in the film sp specifically. Cause this is the scene that as it drug on, I was like, I'm hating the scene. Were you did you enjoy that scene all the way through? Yeah, it was the most tense scene in the entire movie when I'll just I'll I'll call probably the rich family throughout, but like the Parker family, they come back home. Everybody has to clean up in like ten minutes and Okay, well you're dr you're okay, you're skipping ahead a little bit, even. Well, this is all it all kinda happens together. Okay, I'm stuck on like that specific as it goes on, like I I didn't hate it all the way through to that. That'd be so much of the movie I hate it. I'm talking about just like the specifically the scene where they're like drinking and they're talking. Before the doorbell even rings, the husband and the wife do a weird, Am I gonna hit her for the kids to enjoy? and I think what I hated about that scene, I think you're saying, did you forget that it was raining until the lightning struck in the middle of that scene? Yeah, the lightning was the reminder to me. Cause the whole I knew the whole time, like as soon as they went camping, because it started raining pretty early. I was like, Okay, obviously it's raining. They're gonna come back. This is when they're finally cutting loose. They're gonna come back and they're gonna be caught in the act. So the whole it's a long scene. The whole scene I was just hating it because they're being so stupid and nothing in the scene was really grabbing me or anything. And then the doorbell rang. And it t for like a few seconds it turns into a horror movie with the housekeeper coming back. And that pulled that was engaging enough it pulled me back in. Yeah. For the rest of the film, enough. But that that's why I hated it. I feel like you were able to enjoy it because you forgot. That I mean, that's a great yeah, that's a great point. I by the way, like the fact that it started raining so soon after, too, again proves that how dumb this woman is to plan a camping trip when she could likely see the forecast. Big, big storms like that usually aren't a surprise, and we can predict them within like a few hours, if not a day. Mm-hmm. At least she sees this forecast and still says, family, let's everybody pack up. We're going camping. At least it's in character. It's totally in character. And it's not surprising of her character to make a decision like that. So yeah, the one the one thing I want to compliment that moment on is even though I hated it, crazy reveal that there's a secret tunnel in the basement. And her husband has been hiding there for years because of The lone sharks would kill him if they could find him and knew he was alive. And and then that all we'll t we'll get into that, but that all happens and then they come back up and then the parks come back. It I will compliment they were able to like divert my mind enough that I forgot that I knew that was gonna happen enough that it was sort of clever and a little subversive when they came back. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. And that reveal, not i I don't wanna brush over it too quickly. Because housekeeper comes back and immediately we're like, this is insane. And also like she is kind of now seeing into what this family is up to like a little bit. and then, like I said, I had started to feel bad mostly for the workers getting fired. And then when you find out they are also maybe doing whatever they need to to stay alive, if not just taking advantage of this. Really stupid rich family. Then then I hate to say it, you start to feel most bad for these people because everybody's trying to take advantage of them. Nobody likes them. Everybody thinks, and for good reason, that they're moronic. So Yeah. Where does that leave us? I don't know. It like my I always feel like I try to pick somebody to root for and it shifts like fifteen times within this movie. Yeah, I think yeah. Speaking of rooting for, this is how I'll get into it. At any point in this movie, did you stop it so that you could Google how old are the characters of parasites supposed to be? We I'm so glad we're getting into this 'cause 'cause I yeah, I probably spent like thirty minutes, f forty five minutes researching like Appropriate things per culture and is it it's kind of age and yes. So what so what are you getting at exactly? Can you spell it out? Yeah, so it I mean beginning of the movie, like first 20 minutes. The son becomes the tutor of the park's daughter. Yes. He's it's his it's his first tutor lesson alone with the daughter. And who is she going to college? Going to go to college. She plans on go so in high school. Yeah. The mo yes. The most sure. I believe they say she's 16 years old. Do they say that? Because the I didn't think they said her age. The I when I Googled it, the highest I could see was 17 as possible age for her. And in Korea they only have like three grades in high school. But the son straight up kisses the da the park's daughter. And like that's not good, right? It felt like it just felt like it wasn't explained enough or it wasn't like shamed enough. Yeah. And then maybe this is like our culture. And this is where I'm thinking I I don't know how this was received in its home country and other countries outside of the US. If this response is unique to us, I don't know. I imagine a lot of other American audiences were probably feeling like this, but it's so brushed over. It's either it's s it's so brushed over, it's either A, it's not supposed to be a problem. Or B, it w in like South Korea, it's like so obviously also wrong to them that they didn't need to say anything or do anything overt, cause it's it would just be immediately understood by them that okay, that's freaking waaaa weird. I don't know if I like this son so much do it doing stuff like that. So it's either it's It it's so obvious, but I can't figure out which obvious it's supposed to be. I don't know that we're ever supposed to know. I really don't. They carry on this like secret relationship and it's a weird layer into everything. Cause like they talk about how they'll ask her out when she's in college. It's like, okay, so is that when this would be okay? And you're being premature like it's so fr it's so Confusing. We're thinking the exact same thing because the scene that kind of preceded this entire conversation is that they were the the poor Kim family was all in the living room in this beautiful house and they're getting drunk together. At one point, I think the father says I am in my future daughter-in-law's house. Yeah, there's someone with it. Not only do they know about it. I forgot about that. Fully on board and they're like immediately thinking about the future. Although he's he doesn't get into the details. Cause like the way the friend phrases it to the son when they have the meeting at the beginning is I like her, she's cute, when she graduates, I'm gonna officially ask her out. Yeah. And that's what he says to his family. They call it dating, but everything else should be important. Do they call it dating in the scene? They the sister, I believe, calls it dating. She asks straight up to brother. She says, Are you dating? Or are you two dating? I think is the exact line. So they know, they know something's up. Because also the only reason that the sister even asked that is because the son was reading her diary out in the living room while everybody else. So like daughter is drinking on the couch. Father and mother are drinking and eating food at the table, and then the son is on the couch separately. I think also drinking, but openly reading a diary. Yes, yes. Do you remember his response when she asked if they're dating? I think he I think he just says yes, or he doesn't deny it, basically. So definitely the weirdest thing of the movie. And that's that's including that a guy living in a in a cellar for four years. learned how to communicate via Morse code by pounding his face onto a button. And he uses the Morse code to praise and worship the owner of the house, who is a man. What by the way, when when the mom is down there with the former housekeeper and her husband, and the rest of the family is leaning on the stairs, eavesdropping, trying to stay out of view so that the housekeeper doesn't know they're there. And then they fall down. And she starts to piece together what they're doing. It's my favorite line in the movie. she calls the family charlatans. And I was like, such a good word. yeah. But no, they are charlatans, and that's why I didn't like them. And so to kind of wrap up thoughts on this too, I think we just quickly talk about the birthday party scene. The resolution. We're jumping. Okay. And you know, we fast forward to I mean, they run home, their house is destroyed in a flood. The daughter lights a cigarette on top of the toilet. It's pretty sad. That night the dad gives a weird monologue to the son about what was it even about? I don't I don't fully remember. The the one thing that really s no like I really just started thinking in this movie about Shrek because they go back to their home, which is now literally become a swamp. And it it reminds me a lot of Shrek One, not only because we're just talking about like people living in swamps, but but you literally see it. They do it anyways. They go back. This is all they have left. They have they went on this amazing journey into a different world entirely. Only to kinda end up right back where they began in a worse situation. And l when I think about Shrek One, it's I've found this I found a Fiona. I have now dreams of marrying Fiona and living this amazing life, but kind of back in my home in the swamp. And but obviously that doesn't happen in Shrek One, right? They they kind of they get into it. Shrek doesn't come back home with Fiona right away. So so yeah, in that moment I'm really just thinking like we pick the right movie. This is very comparable to Shrek. Yeah. I mean since you brought it up, a lot I also noticed like Donkey in Shrek, the sun is just obsessed with that. It's a nice boulder. It's a nice boulder. That's a nice boulder. That's great. Yeah. But Yeah, that birthday party scene. Okay. So yeah, now we go now we go to the birthday party scene. And this is sleeping ahead of like the Kim family sleeping in that big auditorium, right? Everyone else in that neighborhood gets flooded. Yeah. It's there's a lot that kind of happens, but we go ahead to the birthday party scene. and just to like just l to set the stage. All right. The pieces The pieces are are are in play. Okay. The housekeeper's husband, he breaks free from his bonds. He doesn't at first. The his wife stumbles down the stairs and he watches her slowly die in front of him. And he breaks free from his his bonds. Well that's happening. The son is potentially illegally making out with the Kim's the park's daughter. again, not sure if that's cool. But he's doing it. The dad is hiding behind a bush with Mr. Park. They're gonna jump out as Native American Indians. I would it looks like it looked like it was gonna be fun. But I wouldn't do it because I'm not allowed to do it. But playing pretend is fun. The daughter and the the So you I mean you only are not doing it because you're not allowed to. Okay. Yeah. I mean there's a lot of things. That's that's the way life works in a lot of Circumstances. I'm not crazy for saying that, right? Kind of implying you would love to do it. I wouldn't I wouldn't I would I listen, I wouldn't die to do it. I wouldn't love to do it, but the costume looks fun, you know? I think they probably enjoyed getting dressed up like that. And I think I might too. But I'm not gonna. Okay. Again, let me re I'm not gonna. Okay. But you want. Are you a little? A lot. Yeah. A little. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you want to? No. Not even a little? No, no, no, no. You don't think the feathers would be cool? Yeah, the feathers would be very cool. But I can't but I just You get it. Yeah. You get it. You get what I'm saying. Anyways, they're behind the bush, they're gonna jump out and pretend stab the daughter and kill her when she's carrying the cake to the TP for the child son of the parks. The mom's outside too. And that's that's the scene. That's those are the pieces that are in play. And now I would like you, Dan, please take me through your emotions. Okay, so There's a moment between Mr. Kim and Mr. Park. They're behind a bush, right? They're about to jump out and and do this thing. And correct me if I'm wrong on this, but there's a a small back and forth. And basically, Mr. Park ends up saying to Mr. Kim, We're paying you extra money to do this and to be here. So you have to do this. And the only the only way that I hear it is basically like, We own you. We bought your time. You cannot refuse this. You are a worker. This is a part of the job. Even though he's a driver, they just it comes across as almost an obligation to put on the costume and participate in this event. Okay. I I don't know if I interpreted it that way, which is also maybe why, again, I didn't get this movie. To me, it felt more playful from him. Still like kind of weird, like this isn't really a part of his job description. But he's like, hey, we're paying you extra. It'll be fun. But that's it, because that's not the only time that that That sort of sentiment is brought up in this movie. The the exact same thing happens, I think, with Mrs. Kim and I wanna say either the son or the daughter, but basically she is like, We're paying them overtime, so it's fine. They're just gonna come out and do this and so like basically that to me as I'm watching it implies that when they need something, you're just going to throw money at it. And it can either be an object or a person, but they always have the solution. Of money. Mr. Park does the exact same thing. Because again, correct me if I'm wrong, but I I believe Mr. Kim wasn't totally comfortable with this, or was kind of confused, or was just like tired. Because he had been up all night in the swamp. Yeah. So maybe he just wasn't feeling it. And gives a little bit of pressure. And Mr. Park is like, hey buddy, not happening. You're doing this. Yeah. And then you piece together All of the emotion that he was probably feeling when he was under the table listening to Mr. Park talk all about him and kind of his family. So pretty tense. Yeah. Well, as they're sort of having that conversation you just talked about, the son wanders down to the basement just as the husband of the former housekeeper is coming up and he gets a hold of the rock and he just pommels the son's head. With the ro over and over and over again. And that's a nice boulder. But apparently not that strong. Cause not only does the sun not die, he has no long term side effects, seemingly, whatsoever. No brain damage or anything. He's just unconscious and there's a little bit of blood, but he's fine. Blood from the head. But yeah, it ends up being okay. There's so much in there you can lose a basically all blood out there, you know? Some people more than others. This is partly. Looking at you. So it starts there, and then the daughter is the one that gets stabbed. Yeah. I think he she's just like the first one he sees, right? Yeah. In his mind, he's like, I'm gonna kill all. He sees her I guess he sees the sun first, technically, but after he grabs the knife, he sees her first. Yeah. Yep. Yep. He stabs her. Bleeds everywhere. And then it's just chaos. Pure chaos. Pure chaos. But they every everyone in this movie to that point had it coming to them. As soon as you start to feel like I'm rooting for this character, they say or do something that pulls you so far away from them. I don't you're not rooting for anybody at the end of the movie. Which to me is is like the biggest issue that I've had with it. Not that I yeah, not that I need to like not that I need to have a hero or a happy ending. But I think when I watch a movie, I'm looking for either somebody to relate to or some Some singular story to have a resolution, but because your empathy is going all over the place and you're taking it back and now you're like re-judging characters throughout the movie, I'm just left mostly kind of confused about how I feel about all of it. Yeah. Not to mention that there are like little to no legal consequences for the son and mother who just end up like getting to live back in the swamp. Yeah. And and then Mr. Kim. Then takes the place of the old housekeeper's husband. Yeah in the cellar. But with no one to help him. With no one to help him. Yeah. And he sneaks up and like grabs food. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He yeah. Cause I mean, at the party scene, the one point I want to make is because we haven't directly said it. It's been implied. The the mom stabs the the housekeeper's husband and kills him. He's bleeding out. And then Mr. Park needs to get the keys from underneath his body because they need to rush their son to the hospital because he's having an allergic reaction and he will die if they don't get him there. So he he goes over to the dying the dying guy and he takes a he takes he takes a whiff of him and he's like that smells and Mr. Kim sees it And he snaps. In that moment, he d he decides that's enough. So he takes the knife. I think that his daughter was stabbed with. Yeah. The same knife, right? And he's he stabs Mr. Park and kills him. Which is a wild. It's wild. I wanna know how you feel about it, but just first, I feel like obviously it's bad that he did that. And that was his re the Mr. Park's reaction in that moment as he's trying to save his dying son. He's like, also that's stinky. But also, I think Mr. Kim's reaction is a little unjustified because he knows that that guy's been living in the basement for four years. And there's no shower down there. So like I think he should have understood a little bit more. Yeah. And no shower down there either kind of then reinforces this idea that There's a s there's a smell. Yeah, and it's gotta be worse than the subway smell. It must be. It's been years. He had to have smelled it, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So So Mr. Park gets dead to death. of all characters. Yeah. Yeah, the daughter also. To death. But of all the characters, I feel like he deserved death the least. Yeah. Yeah. He was kinda just wrong place, wrong time. Yeah. I mean he thought poor people smelled, which is rude. Anyway, this movie has a happy ending. You think so? No. Yeah, yeah. No, it's a weird it's a weird ending. It ends and you're kinda like, What was the point? That's how I incomplete. Incomplete. So yeah, really d to kinda like sum it up. father then starts living in the cellar. Mother and son Son who is somehow still alive, despite somehow perfectly functional. Like you see the size of the this hit him on the head hard. So many times. And he's fine. I think it's implied that he has like some trouble kind of learning, or maybe like He doesn't have all of his memory. I don't know exactly. There's something there. Like he's not Maybe it was a personality switch, cause he just decides he's gonna make all of the money now. And then he does. Exactly. So then he ends up basically being fine. Which which for the r by the way, sort of like a slid in under the buzzer message of this movie is if you're poor, just decide to make tons of money and you can't. That's basically what the sun does and at the end, right? He's like, my dad's trapped in that basement. I gotta make enough money to buy that crazy home. And then he does. Is that is that real or was that a fantasy? I don't imagine how or why it would be a fantasy. Just Google, is the ending of Parasite real or a fantasy? That's exactly what I'm looking up right now. Okay, so the scene at the end of the film where he becomes wealthy, buys the mansion, and reunites with his father is entirely a fantasy sequence. No Is that AI or is that Bong Jun Ho? this is from the Washington Post. Well, that's not a real website. director Boong Jon ho has stated in interviews that he intended this to be a realistic, somewhat devastating ending and noted that if you calculate the average income in Korea, it would take him hundreds of years to actually afford a house like that. What's the point of the movie? So yeah, the the point of the movie to me, I think. Is that people will do anything to survive? A lot of the times it is completely immoral, it's reprehensible, but they do it anyways because people gotta eat. who or what is the parasite then? Parasite is a mindset that the Kim family has. They are parasitic, they infiltrate, they multiply, they make it really bad for the host. And it ends with death. I think I love this movie now. Yeah. I think you just I legitimately in this moment, I think you just recontextualize this entire movie and I like it now. What what about why? What do you mean? What just happened? Because now Parasite makes sense. Did it not make sense the whole time? I thought I was supposed to be rooting for the Kim the Kim family. I thought I was supposed to like and root for But now you're saying they are the that's the whole the whole point is they are a parasite. Absolutely. And they kill the the part when you said kill the host dude it was like it was like it was like when it was like it was like that scene in that movie where like it goes you know mm-hmm mm-hmm mm-hmm you know do you know what I'm talking about? Shrek one the movie? I know that yeah so so then final verdict in your eyes is Parasite better or worse than Shrek One? I still think it's worse than Shrek One. You say it's worse. Yeah it's worse than Shrek One. Okay. Okay. Mm-hmm Mm-hmm. You actually liked this movie. So there's a change. I love this movie. You love this movie? I love it. You'd loved it. Okay. I'll summarize my thoughts. I'll summarize them here. I thought, again, the cinematography was original. It was pretty upbeat. It was quick. The director did a good job at letting the actors act. I thought the storytelling, although pretty chaotic, interesting throughout the entire time. We're following more than one story. You think you're you're following the story of a guy who's going in and Conning his way into a tutoring position to help his poor family. Everybody can jump on that train. Fine. You end up finding that the entire family is parasitic. They are not good. You find that this family is so stupid, dumb, and bad and idiotic. They mesh together. Now we have like 11 stories happening at once. At no point do you like not believe that the Kim family will figure out whatever they need to figure out. They are so good at working together. And by way of conning their way into something, actually become proficient at everything, right? You yeah, I mean you got Rich Park mom calling in the middle of a rainstorm saying, Hey, this is what I want to eat for dinner. She has no idea how to make it. She learns how to make it, she does it under distress, she does it in the most intense situation she's probably been in in her entire life. She kills a woman in the middle of cooking it and she pulls it off while still still gets it done and makes it taste good. He Becomes such a good driver that there's only one point of the movie where Mr. Park says, Hey, eyes on the road, but he's like, I know this road, like the back because he does. He knows the entire city so well because he has to be believable. The son, creepy as he is, like literally becomes a tutor. The daughter, who I don't works with the son. And literally gets him to listen within one lesson. So, like, yeah, they are dirty, they are not good people, they are liars, but they they con their way so well that they become proficient at everything that they do. So the characters and that development of who they are is really, really cool to watch. So, all of that said, this movie to me, phenomenal. and it is still worse than Shrek One. High bar to top. It's a high bar to talk. I think about what makes Shrek One so good, and above the comedy, above the originality, above the animation, above the cultural impact, it is the rewatchability to me that keeps its standard so high. And despite how much I enjoyed Parasite, I am not gonna rewatch it maybe more than one other time in my life, I imagine. Can't say I think I might have to, just since you like Matrix my perception of the movie. I'm gonna be like Neo flying around New York City or wherever he did he live in New York City? Yeah. Yeah. Tommy's gonna be flying around, but it's gonna be South Seoul, South Korea. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So ultimately, no, no, not better than Shrek One. But like a seven out of ten. A step. You thought this movie was quote phenomenal, and you're giving it a seven out of ten? Yeah, absolutely. I cannot wait to review more movies with you. Same. It's gonna be good. It's gonna be good. thank you all so much for joining us on the inaugural episode of Rotten Onions. Dan, I will give you the final words. You know what kind of plan never fails? No plan at all. And you know why? Because life cannot be planned. But that said, our plan for next week is to review Schindler's list. So yeah, definitely tune in for that one. That'll be an interesting kiss is really, really excited. Really excited to to watch that one.