Like the Shoplifters, the parasites are members of a family trying through criminal means to overcome their bleak social circumstances - here, under false pretenses they inveigle their way one by one into jobs in an upperclass family home - and it's once they are ensconsed that director Bong Joon-ho lets all hell run loose - you won't believe a lot of what comes - but the director's shifts between absurdist black comedy, freak show horror, family drama, crime thriller and social commentary are more awkward here than in his other work, and even though there is a sting in the tail - a decidedly grim punchline that makes you forgive the absurdities of the preceding plot by asking you to consider the alternative - the movie needs a further hour's runtime to make everything fit neatly and to deal with several plot threads simply left dangling.
★★★★☆
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