Cannes winner 'Parasite' captures rich-poor gap through family: director

The South Korean director of "Parasite," a darkly comic movie that won the top Palme d'Or prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, described the movie on Tuesday (May 28) as "a candid portrayal of the rich and the poor."

"Parasite" is a wickedly humorous suspense movie about class struggles set in modern South Korea, following a down-on-its-luck family of four who worm their way into jobs in a wealthy household.

The unanimous decision to award "Parasite" the top prize at Cannes on Saturday (May 25) partly came down to its unexpected mash-up of genres, as the darkly comic tale doubles up as a thriller, with flashes of violence. It was the first Palme d'Or at Cannes for a South Korean film.

South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, left, poses for the media with cast members after a press conference for his new movie "Parasite" which won the Cannes Film Festival's top award, the Palme d'Or, in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 28, 2019. The movie is to be released in South Korea on May 30, 2019. AP

Bong said he conceived and began writing "Parasite" in 2013 when he was filming the critically-acclaimed movie "Snowpiercer" starring Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton.

Both movies portray the rich and the poor, but instead of the science fiction setting in "Snowpiercer", Bong said he wrote "Parasite" focusing on two families - one poor, one rich - from the beginning, viewing the gap through "the most basic unit of our lives."

"Parasite" opens in South Korea on May 30, in France on June 5 and in North America including the U.S. in November, distributor CJ ENM said on Tuesday. (Reuters)

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