The Housemaid, 1960 - Kim Ki-young

Streaming on Criterion Channel

One of the greatest Korean films of all time and a major influence on Parasite, Kim Ki-young’s feverish, quasi-absurdist, psychosexual melodrama tells of a seductive housekeeper who brings instability and ultimately destruction to a middleclass music teacher and his family.

“One of the true classics of South Korean cinema…When I finally had the opportunity to see the picture, I was startled. That this intensely, even passionately claustrophobic film is known only to the most devoted film lovers in the West is one of the great accidents of film history.” –Martin Scorsese

A great piece of banned cinema (a favorite genre of mine) that perfectly captured the boiling point of a nation and brought it into scathing criticism. Possibly (?) unpopular opinion but I love Im Sang-soo’s 2010 remake, it’s just such a riveting story.