Parasite has gotten a second trailer and it's full of quotes from critics haling the film as a masterpiece. An original project co-written and directed by cult South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho, the dark satire premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, and went on to take home the event's coveted Palme d'Or. Unsurprisingly, Neon plans to release Parasite domestically in the midst of this year's awards season, in a bid to further tap into its early rave reviews and potentially transform the film into an Oscar contender across the board.
Storywise, Parasite follows the dirt-poor, but street savvy, Kim family as their children, led by the college-aged Ki-woo (Woo-sik Choi), secure employment with the extremely wealthy, yet oblivious Park clan. The previous U.S. trailer avoided revealing too many plot details beyond that, in an effort to entice those who're curious about the film without spoiling its twisted overarching narrative in the process. Thankfully, the latest trailer is equally adept at dancing around Parasite's secrets.
With just a week and a half to go before the film reaches the U.S., Neon has released a second trailer for Parasite online. You can check it out, below.
For the most part, this trailer relies on Kyung-pyo Hong's sharply cold visuals, in combination with pull-quotes from the early reviews, to sell Parasite as a must-see for cinephiles. The strategy seems to be working so far, though it surely helps that Joon-ho already has a loyal following that's excited to see the movie, and is all too eager to promote it on social media for free. Indeed, the director has earned a reputation for crafting fascinating political allegories by way of genre, be it with the dystopian sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer, the fairy tale-esque adventure Okja, or his celebrated non-english offerings like the monster movie The Host. And if the current buzz around Parasite is anything to go by, the film will only further cement Joon-ho's reputation for being one of today's great storytellers.
As far as its Oscar prospects are concerned, it's safe to say Parasite is a lock to be nominated for (and will probably win) the Best International Feature Film prize at the 2020 Academy Awards show. It's more of a long shot when it comes to the other major Oscar categories, but there's certainly a chance the film will snag Joon-ho his first nod as Director and maybe even a spot on the Best Picture lineup. Non-english language movies tend to only get so much love from the Academy, but there've definitely been exceptions in the past (last year's Roma being the most recent example). Plus, if moviegoers continue to herald Parasite as a masterpiece moving forward, it's going to be all the more difficult for Oscar voters to ignore it.
Parasite opens in select U.S. theaters on Friday, October 11 and will expand to additional markets over the weeks that follow.
Source: Neon