Parasite in Love (2021)

Compelling romance narrative exploring mental health issues in a unique way.

"Why does this world insist on keeping me alive?"

This was such an odd movie, and the best advice I could give to potential viewers is to go into it with an open mind and just roll with it. Not everything is as it seems, it's definitely a movie with a lot of subtexts that may speak even more through its visuals than it's dialogue heavy script. While the approach is rather strange at times, the love story is your typical romance and the characters aren't necessarily fleshed out enough to really connect to them. Personally, I thought the depiction of mental health was done in such a creative way that kept me engaged until the end of the story.

The strongest point of this movie were the visuals. A variety of effects and the atmospheric color-grading really elevated the story for me. With the help of those visuals and the beautiful score, this movie had such a captivating atmosphere that helped communicate the themes of the story. Komatsu Nana and Hayashi Kento are two actors I'm always happy to see and they both did a great job portraying, not only two people with phobias, but also conveying their yearning for some kind of connection to someone who understands them.

Parasite in Love is a melancholic and visually-stunning romance, using an artistic approach to tell the story of two lonely people trying to feel normal in a world that deems them atypical.

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Life goes on, love lives on.

You'll understand my title maybe after you finish watching the movie. First things first, I deeply disliked the main story line. The theme they chose is nice, they portrayal is fine too, but the story in general seemed really lame. I accept delulu world has no boundaries or rules but bro!!! What is this bro? I am certainly not from biology background but I am sure the parasite shown in the film isn't that real. If it is then... WTF?! We have such shit in the world?

Anyhoo, the leads did nice work. As two people who got constantly rejected by the society and found comfort in eachother, the development of their bond is not shown that deep but it's not too plain too. You can watch this once, in 1.5 speed. Getting the story outline is fine. There are no dialogues that would actually move us. But a few scenes where the lead roles try expressing emotions were moving. I'm a sucker for romance and such emotions so I got moved even more ㅠㅠ. The conclusion/ the ending of the movie is nice. I give them that. They have shown what we already know in a very soft way and I liked the two liners at that single scene. Rest all is just ok. In short, story is disappointing but the work that was put in the production and action is good.

The movie, watching it for one time itself seemed a lot to me, I shall by no means plan to rewatch it.

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