This year’s best Academy Award Winner 'PARASITE' bears some undoubting similarities with 'PhonY' - as follow:

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PRODUCTION COSTS    Parasite:     Low-medium, USD 11,4 Mio (cumulated                                         box-office of USD 266 Mio as of April 20,                                   2020)                                                                                    

                    PhonY:        Low, USD 2.5 – 4 Mio (depending on the                                       eventual name-cast

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GENRE               Parasite:     Black Comedy/Satire

                                        

                    PhonY:        Screwball Comedy, with satirical tone

    

             

OVERALL STYLE       Parasite:     Story-driven; Dark; Near-zany;  Well-                                       speeded narrative style

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                    PhonY:        Story-driven; Near-zany; lively;                                             screwball-speed dialogued;  visual humor;                                   well-speeded narrative style

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                             Two film-sets, two shacks: left Parasite in Seoul, right PhonY in Zurich 

 

 

CONCEPTION          Parasite:     Classic three act-structure; linear; two                                     locations; making use of social contrast                                     poor vs. rich rich                                       

                    PhonY:        Classic three act-structure; three                                           interacting segments at six locations,                                       ‘Babel’-like; making use of social and                                       cultural contrasts; frequent location-                                       switches within a linear story;  dialogue                                   ongoing in off over other segments (e.g.                                     narration in English over scenes in                                         Thailand)

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STORY               Parasite:     Critical analysis of social abuse,                                           depicted within a bleak political                                           society

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                    PhonY:        Critical analysis of digitality across all                                   cultures; practical ways of alternatives                                     presented

 

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A still of Parasite, and a corresponding one of PhonY (with main protagonist Oy in the finished Thai-segment) 

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MESSAGE             Parasite:     No hope for any soon system change

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                    PhonY:        Hope within ongoing conflict

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LANGUAGE            Parasite:     Korean; hefty subtitles due to saturating                                   dialogue and narrations

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                    PhonY:        Predominantly English, in addition of some                                   Thai and Swiss-German what’s to a great                                     extent self-explanatory, though only                                         scarce subtitling required

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EDITING              Parasite:    Hitchcockian montage style, especially the                                   five-minute-sequence of the ousting of the                                   housekeeper and parallel happenings

                                        

                     PhonY:       Truly an editor's film! Frequent doubling                                   of action-pieces through the entire                                         duration; Frequent linear interacting                                       within segments (e.g. when Terrilynn and                                     her ‘mental twin’ Torasab persuade Oskar                                     and his mental twin Oy to make Angelina                                     and her mental twin Aun leave their                                         ‘classic’ job into the infinite digital                                     prosperity)

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PROTAGONISTS         Parasite:    Likeable identification figures; involving                                   two demographically equal families within                                   Seoul           

                                          

                     PhonY:       Likeable identification figures; slightly                                   exaggerated mannered; involving all ages                                     and many cultural traits

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                        A still of Parasite's leads, and one of PhonY 's Oskar in the finished Swiss-segment 

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CAST                 Parasite:    Ensemble; Local Korean name actors

  

                     PhonY:       Ensemble; Some Swiss and Thai names mixed                                   with newcomers, led by one or several                                       international names (such as with the                                       replacemnt of deceased Burt Reynolds, the                                   interested Elke Sommer along one or two                                     more Hollywood-names)

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CREATORS             Parasite:    Boong Joon-ho, in the multiple-functions                                     as Story-Originator, Co-Screenwriter,                                       Director, Producer, Editor (uncredited); a                                   Korean expat in Hollywood

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                     PhonY:       Roger Steinmann, in the multiple-functions                                   as Story-Originator, Sreenwriter,                                           Director, Producer, Editor (possibly u                                       uncredited); a Swiss expat in Hollywood

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                                                         March 10,2020 RS/rm

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