SPOILER DISCUSSION

1. Ki-jeong/Jessica absolutely was my favorite character and her mannerisms kept me laughing every time she came on. The scene of her casually lighting a cigarette and smoking on the toilet as her family’s apartment is flooding is my favorite in the entire movie, which is saying a lot for a movie as beautiful as this one. There was something incredibly cathartic about her decision to just kind of embrace the chaos. Maybe embrace isn’t the right word – but more like resign to it. There’s no desperation or sadness – just an act done normally in a horrifying situation. I still can’t get the scene out of my head.

2.The ending actually made me tear up. The promised scene of Kim ki-taek finally getting out of the house and meeting his son and wife is just an illusion we’re shown because Ki Woo has “broken.” Under capitalism, there are no happy endings. There are only the desperate fantasies we fight to obtain, not knowing that the system will never let us move forward. The scene and ensuing narration was heartbreaking.