Bong Joon Ho

I didn't actually like Parasite as a movie, but they put this out with the words "graphic novel" on the cover, and I felt compelled to check it out from the library.

Well, first up, it's not really a graphic novel by my definition. The full script of the movie is typeset and wraps around or weaves through a bunch of roughly sketched little storyboard rectangles stacked over each other down the side or middle of each page.

The weird thing is that I liked the story better this way. All the show more characters are still quite off-putting as in the film -- an unlikable, impoverished family cons their way into working as servants for an odd rich family, an allegorical infestation of roaches in their sterile mansion -- but the soft-focus of the sketches made me hate them all a little less.

It was interesting to follow along with the book while streaming the film for a little while. But the movie quickly started to bug me again, so I stopped that. show less

The last surviving humans are on a train for some reason.

They don't bother to explain the absurd set-up (Why are they on a train?) until half-way through, by which point it's far too late to take the movie as seriously as it takes itself. (And anyway, it's not much of an explanation.) And I'm glad we didn't see it in the theatre; even on a TV, parts of it are unreasonably dark.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: D
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: show more B

Enjoyment: C plus

GPA: 2.4/4 show less

D (Bad).

A clone gets cloned, in space.

I signed up for the Misadventures Of A Weird Little Guy movie, and instead got MAGA In Space. I will never understand satire, but I don't think the problem was me this time around. We were actually supposed to root for some of these characters, and not the alien bug monsters.

(Sep. 2025)

Ridiculous premise, outstanding set design, sharp dialogue, tight plotting, bad ending, an especially good performance from Ed Harris.