In one of the closing events of the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival, Hamer Hall presented a special screening of Bong Joon Ho’s celebrated social satire ‘Parasite’ (2019), with Orchestra Victoria performing the film’s score live as conducted by its composer Jung Jae-il.
Upon first seeing posters for this concert, I did admittedly scratch my head, trying to remember the music from this film when I had first seen it about five years ago. The score lacks a compelling central melody, making it unusual choice for a live-in-concert performance as compared with, say, more hummable works like ‘Indiana Jones’ or ‘La La Land’.
Seeing it again now, with the score performed live, I appreciate how subliminal some of Jae-il’s work is in serving the film. Orchestra Victoria’s performance was a flawless exercise not only in technical craft – the cues were perfectly timed to the action on screen, a notoriously difficult achievement in these kinds of concerts – but also brilliantly flexible to the wicked tonal shifts of the film’s satirical narrative.
Ostensibly a comedy of class, as well as a tragedy laced with prominent horror elements, ‘Parasite’ is thrillingly disobedient in its genre identity. The score reflects this, utilising a peculiar inventory of different instruments. From tinkling percussion to illustrate the playful deception of the central family’s plots to climb the socioeconomic ladder, to a novel application of a musical saw to represent the warped perception of the world upheld by a wealthy family, there is immense depth of character provided in Jae-il’s rich compositions.
'Parasite Live In Concert' - Image © Josh Rountos (@a.boyandhiscamera on Instagram)
To balance the tone, then, between these wayward styles, is a testament to Orchestra Victoria’s versatility and, again, timing. Shifting between playful, conniving, victorious, resentful and murderous, the music communicates such a vibrant and menacing fabric of different emotions.
To do all of this across a two-hour period, to shift so dynamically in tone – and to make sure that the exact snap of pizzicato or breath of strings matches the single frame of movement onscreen – is incredibly difficult. That Orchestra Victoria did all of this without, literally, missing a beat is extremely impressive.
A fine sendoff for Melbourne’s premiere showcase of international cinema, this special presentation of ‘Parasite’ was a bold demonstration that live-in-concert screenings need not live or die by a film score that is packed end-to-end with earworms. The subtleties of film music can, when given the luxurious breathing room of a live orchestra, be permitted to speak just as clearly as the actors on screen.
