Park Chan-Wook’s precursor to Oldboy is gorgeously shot and stunningly composed – I was thinking as I was watching it that is was one of the most beautiful films I’d ever seen – but I didn’t think the story merited it. You can see where it’s going after a while, and then it goes there – a couple of weird detours on the way but no major surprises.
It’s hideously violent. The fact that a couple of the main characters are so amped up by the desire for revenge that they are seemingly beyond rationality, and thus don’t seem frightened or hurt by what happens to them, is the only thing that made some of the sequences watchable.
All the leads are very good. The main character’s charmingly sullen terrorist girlfriend is a particular standout.
Evocative and creepy sound design.
One thing that surprised me was the director’s explaining the final twist at the end (the identity of the men who appear late in the film)…the groundwork had been laid for this very explicitly and it was jarring to have it spelled out.
Two of the last three Korean films I’ve seen (by different directors) have a plot point of a postcard written to a radio station, and someone’s identity being discovered as a result. I don’t know what to make of this.
I also don’t know why I’m so fond of the film’s title - maybe just because it sounds absurd - but I am.
What I learned from this film
Lots of dyed hair going on in South Korea
Apr 25th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Nice review. Oldboy’s still Park’s most notorious film to date though. And don’t forget about Sympathy For Lady Vengeance!
Apr 25th, 2008 at 10:19 am
A bleak film, and the least of Chan-Wook’s revenge trilogy. Old Boy is more spectacularly baroque (plus it features my favourite fight scene of all time) and Lady Vengence is just as beautiful and has a better story.