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Mini Review
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| Director |
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Park Chan-wook
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| Cast |
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Choi Min-sik
Yu Ji-tae
Kang Hye-jeong
Dae-han Ji
Dal-su Oh
Byeong-ok Kim
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| Distributor |
| Tartan Video |
| Running Time |
| 120 Minutes |
| Certification |
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18
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Reviewed By
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Alex Ballard
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Buy this film
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OLDBOY (2003)
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In recent years, films such as Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (2002), Memories of Murder and A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) have validated the argument that Korean cinema is currently at the cutting edge of gripping, evocative filmmaking. One of the individuals at the forefront of this movement is Park Chan-wook, who with his seminal 2002 piece Sympathy for Mr Vengeance cemented his reputation as a major directorial force both within and beyond his country. His latest release Oldboy, winner of the Grand Jury award at Cannes 2004 and Best Picture award at Sitges 2004, continues the exploration of vengeance central to ‘Sympathy…’ in a very different yet equally challenging and esoteric manner.
Oldboy initially seems to be the story of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), a family man who is abducted and imprisoned in a room for many years. Throughout his incarceration he teeters on the edge of sanity, desperate to know why he has been imprisoned and by whom. We quickly learn he is not the most popular of individuals, highlighted by the list of enemies he checks off whilst contemplating who his jailer might be. Eventually, spurred on by the knowledge of his wife’s murder (of which he is apparently a prime suspect), desperate to know the fate of his young daughter and of course, eager to take revenge upon his keeper, he contrives a plan to abscond. So, along with teaching himself to fight by bloodying his fists on one wall of his prison for many years, he begins to painstakingly scrape his way through another with a chopstick.
In his fifteenth year of imprisonment, Dae-su finally removes enough mortar and brickwork to escape and, following a hilarious encounter with a suicidee (the first person he has seen in 15 years), he initiates efforts to take his revenge. However, he soon realizes that his captor has not finished extracting his own revenge for a past transgression and Dae-su learns he has only five days to discover the answers he has obsessed over for so long. These five days see him undertake a violent and uncompromising journey towards his revenge, at times oddly reminiscent of Michael Caine’s relentless pursuit of the truth in Get Carter (1971).
During this time, his enemy is revealed to be Lee Woo-jin (Yu Ji-tae), a long forgotten classmate of Dae-su’s, initially appearing as a genial, cultured playboy until his own shocking motives of vengeance are revealed. Also central to the story is Mi-do (Kang Hye-jeong, who also stars in String, Park’s contribution to the 3 Extremes trilogy) a beautiful yet ultimately tragic character that, like Dae-su, is being unknowingly manipulated by the elaborate reprisals of Lee Woo-jin.
The production values throughout are absolutely first rate, as Park Chan-wook guides us through Dae-su’s journey from one hell to another. The soundtrack, as with many Korean films, is a mixture of contemporary and classical music, utilised effectively and tastefully. Also worth mentioning is the cinematography, which like ‘Sympathy…’, is very successful in augmenting the emotional content of a given scene with its variant tones and stylistics.
Ultimately, there are several moments during this film when viewers will realise that Oldboy is, quite simply, one of the most incredible films they will ever see. Apart from the breathless and at times elating journey that Dae-su travels, the film’s amazing climax reveals the full extent of Lee Woo-jin’s vengeance, of which Dae-su’s incarceration of 15 years is only a fraction. Truly a piece of excellent filmmaking.
To accompany this outstanding peice of cinematic brilliance, Tartan Video have seen fit to offer a fanfare release in the form of a double DVD set including a mass of extra features. On the first disk is the main presentation complete with sumptuous Dolby Digital-EX 6.1 and DTS-ES Digital surround sound options and a crisp anamorphic 2.35:1 aspect ratio image. Accompanying the film are three commentary tracks - one by director Park Chan-wook, the second by director Park Chan-wook and cinematographer Jung Jung-Hoon and the third by Park Chan-wook and various cast members. There is also the original UK theatrical trailer to round things off.
"Don't like commentary tracks" I hear you moan, well the second disk holds enough to keep you busy for as long as the feature film. First up are 9 deleted scenes clocking up around 24 minutes worth of cutting room wastage. A whole host of cast and crew interviews (11 if my maths are correct) are perched neatly on this disk including a UK exclusive interview with Park Chan-wook by Mark Salisbury. To round off this mammoth presentation we get a batch of behind-the-scenes features examining particular elements including the musical score, CGI effects and the production design.
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Score
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10 / 10
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