Oh Dae-Su (Min-sik Choi) lived a shameful life. When he is imprisoned, with no answers, no explanations and no human contact, but all amenities catered for, he has 15 years to ponder which one of his adventures cost him his freedom and to ponder his revenge.
Upon his release, he is given clothes, money and a task; to discover the reason for his imprisonment. Along with new companion Mi-Do (Hye-jeong Kang), he begins his second chance at life with a lust for vengeance and a 5-day deadline in which he must discover what he did so wrong.
The centre of the Vengeance Trilogy (the first of which was ‘Sympathy for Mr Vengeance’, and the latter being ‘Lady Vengeance’), and Park Chan-Wook’s masterpiece, ‘Oldboy‘ insists upon your full attention and definitely shocks and stuns, and whilst less visually beautiful that it’s counterparts, some of the scenes stand-out as irreplacable.
The scene that everyone remembers is the corridor. For good reason admittedly, as it’s uniquely shot and endearingly gory, but it is also genuinely amusing. And it looks like a video game.
But, throughout the film, that violence that eminates from the pure frustration of the characters is something that is understandable, and whilst you see little of Oh Dae-Su’s past, you are drawn into supporting his plight and it is difficult to comprehend when events unfold.
This is one of the films that put Korean cinema on the map, and had an impact on the underground, indie foreign film market similar to the impact ‘The Host’ made on mainstream movies. A remake is in the works, sadly, but ‘Oldboy’ will forever remain unique, and a testament to the innovation and attraction of Korean cinema.
Foreign language films... 