Starring Song Kang-ho. In Korean, with English subtitles. Rated 14A

Kim Ki-woo (Choi Woo-sik) sees everything as a metaphor in a film that ultimately views itself as an emblematic, if unusually twisted, slice of modern life as spent in the yawning gap between wealth and poverty.

This young university grad is the introspective scion of a poor family that, after numerous bad turns, has ended up in a beyond-crappy Seoul apartment. His sister (Park So-dam) is a cynical scammer; their dad (Song Kang-ho), is a dreamer whose schemes have never paid off; and tart-tongued mom (Jang Hye-jin) just barely holds the group together.

The Kim family’s bonds, and inner resources, are tested when a college pal recommends Ki-woo for a job tutoring the teen daughter (Jung Ji-so) of a wealthy suburban family. Despite his class-conscious trepidations about the snooty Parks and their modernist villa, he fits in quite well—so well, he immediately starts looking for ways his whole fam-damily can ride the upper-crust gravy train.

For example, Sis could tutor the rich clan’s more problematic little son (Jung Hyun-jun), and mom and dad would make an excellent housekeeper and driver if they can just convince the friendly, if melancholic lady of the manor (Jo Yeo-jeong) and her unctuous husband (Lee Sun-kyun) that they are not only qualified but don’t even know each other. Oh, and there’s still the little problem of getting rid of the people who are already doing those jobs.

Parasite radically shifts tones over its wildly entertaining two-hour-plus running time. It would be understandable if the lighter first half reminded viewers of the ad-hoc family in Shoplifters. And the latter innings could remind some of Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Us, especially regarding the transmutability of identity as it relates to money and class. But the elegantly composed style is pure Bong Joon-ho, the director who made movies as different as the sci-fi Snowpiercer and the semi-animated Okja, both with international casts. He returns to home turf here, even touting contrasts between the two Koreas, with the main families repping the two most common names in that divided land.

The movie is an instant classic, although the director’s tendency to jam together different ideas and genres does create some narrative problems. There’s an essential disconnect between the slick Kims when they’re pulling a scam and the inept klutzes they seem to be at home. Bong may be saying something about the roles we play in a stratified society, but you still have to wonder why such clever devils are living in a basement with stinkbugs.