A Glean movie guide
Beyond the Basement: Films Like Parasite
High-stakes tension meets social comment
Masterful thrillers and sharp social satires exploring class, deception, and power.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Handmaiden
A visually stunning South Korean masterpiece of elaborate deception and shifting power dynamics.
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
- 02
Burning
A haunting, slow-burn thriller that captures the simmering resentment between the haves and have-nots.
'Burning' is a conversation between two young mothers brought together by strange and cruel social realities, at a funeral ghat in Varanasi
- 03
Shoplifters
A poignant look at a family of petty thieves that challenges our definitions of poverty and connection.
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
- 04
Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho's high-concept action epic serves as a literal, visceral allegory for social hierarchy.
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
- 05
The Housemaid
The classic South Korean thriller that Bong Joon-ho cited as a primary influence for Parasite.
A piano composer's family moves into a new house; when his pregnant wife collapses from working to support the family, he hires a housemaid to help with housework.
- 06
The Menu
A razor-sharp satire that blends fine dining with high-stakes tension and a critique of extreme wealth.
A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
- 07
Triangle of Sadness
A wickedly funny exploration of social roles that turns the hierarchy upside down on a luxury cruise.
A celebrity model couple are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged, alcoholic captain. What first appears Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island in a struggle of hierarchy.
- 08
Saltburn
A provocative and stylish thriller centered on a student's calculated infiltration of an aristocratic estate.
Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family's sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
- 09
The White Tiger
A gripping crime drama following an ambitious driver's cunning rise through India's rigid class system.
An ambitious Indian driver uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty and rise to the top. An epic journey based on the New York Times bestseller.
- 10
High and Low
Akira Kurosawa's masterful procedural uses a kidnapping to expose the deep divide between social strata.
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
- 11
Mother
Bong Joon-ho explores the dark extremes of family loyalty in this intense, unpredictable mystery.
Mother compiles clips of mother figures from classic Hollywood cinema and television dramas. The figures range from the Virgin Mary and Mother Courage, to characters from Maude (1972–78), Aliens (1986), Imitation of Life (1959), and American Gangster (2007). The characters play out scenes of care, loss, emotional manipulation, abandonment, and grief. The intense relationships between mothers and daughters are especially prominent.
- 12
Hidden (Caché)
A chilling domestic thriller that forces a wealthy family to confront the ghosts of their social privilege.
George, host of a television show focusing on literature, receives videos shot on the sly that feature his family, along with disturbing drawings that are difficult to interpret. He has no idea who has made and sent him the videos. Progressively, the contents of the videos become more personal, indicating that the sender has known George for a long time.