After 15 years of imprisonment, a man sets out on a mission to find out why he was kidnapped and his wife brutally murdered.
As Spike Lee's re-make of Korean classic Oldboy begins set to hit the big screen some time next year amidst howls of outrage from fans of the original, now seems like a good time to re-watch Park Chan-Wook's masterpiece.
The basic plot is very simple: Oh Dae-Su, a middle-aged man is suddenly kidnapped and held for 15 years without ever being told why. He discovers that he has been framed for the murder of his wife so that even if he were to escape, he would have no life to return to. After 15 years he is released and sets out in search of answers and revenge.
Even taken entirely out of the context of the plot, there is a single scene that perfectly captures the brilliance of Oldboy, titled simply "One Versus Many".
The entire scene is filmed in one gorgeous shot, a testament to Park's skill as a director, as is the bizarrely melancholic choice of music that accompanies it. The whole scene oozes style in a grimy, almost Blade Runner-esque fashion and showcases what a visually striking film Oldboy is.
It sees Oh Dae-Su charges headlong through a corridor filled with armed thugs, tearing through right through the crowd before turning back to finish pulverising anyone left standing.
However, Oh Dae-Su is not Bourne; he doesn't fight with any great amount of skill or precision. Though much of his 15 years in captivity was spent in training, he is clearly no martial artist. He prevails against an almost impossible number of enemies simply because he refuses to submit: the rage that drives him is too great. A modern Captain Ahab, he is a man consumed by a monomaniacal need for revenge, allowing no obstacle to stand between him and it.
Choi Min-Sik beautifully captures the idea of a once normal man driven halfway (or perhaps entirely) insane by captivity, finally released only to be trapped once more by the compulsive need to discover and destroy his captors. He does most of his acting through his body language, never seeming quite comfortable in the outside world, almost impassive to everything around him, speaking in a stunted, emotionless fashion, often in ambiguous, quasi-philosophical musing; all of which combine to make his violent burst s of anger all the more astonishing for the almost robot-like serenity that precedes them.
Korea has a reputation as a hotbed of both some of the world's most innovative cinema and its most violent. Oldboy certainly lives up to both of these standards, though the latter drew considerably more attention at its Western release: the aforementioned corridor scene is brutal but nothing compared to Oh Dae-Su's claw hammer based interrogation technique or his infamous sushi order. (If you don't already know, I'd rather not ruin the surprise)
My only criticism of Oldboy would be that the film begins by posing several interesting questions- such as whether Oh Dae-Su's captivity would have been made easier if he had known how long he was to be held- but then promptly loses interest in them as to devote more time to watching Oh Dae-Su display a rather surprising aptitude for claw hammer-based dentistry.
Since I mentioned it, I should probably explain why Lee' decision to remake it in English has caused such outrage: it's not (just) snobbery against those who refuse to read subtitles, Oldboy is simply a film that cannot be made in the West. Not only is it far too violent, everything about its tone, style and sense of humour is thoroughly Oriental and will undoubtedly be lost in translation.
Fortunately, no matter how the remake turns out, we'll always have the original which is a slightly bizarre but entirely wonderful film, shot so gorgeously that even the most unpleasant spectacle is a joy to watch. It's not for the faint of heart but it is one of the greatest films of the last decade.
Already having wrenched the cinematic world's attention with his first two masterful films, JSA and Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, South Korean director Park Chan-Wook created his calling card in 2000 with Oldboy. Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Oldboy leaves everyone who sees it shaken, and ultimately changed, in its wake. Oh Dae-Su is just a man, ordinary, until one day, when after a bender he disappears from sight and wakes up imprisoned. He wakes up in what appears to be a hotel room, only he cannot leave. The only things he has to keep him company are a TV and a painting of Jesus Christ on the wall. Fifteen years pass in Dae-Su's imprisonment and during this time he learns of his wife's murder and that he is the prime suspect and spends his entire "sentence" toughening up for the day he is free and will completely and utterly destroy his captor. The camera work and cinematography during the montage showing his time in hell is astounding, taking advantage of CGI in very effective but understated ways, as well as showing the pain and confusion of 15 ytears of uncertainty in a very short span. One day he wakes up outside, with no explanation and no direction. Soon enough he is on his mission to find the truth about his captivity, the night he is released he goes to eat and in order to prove to himself that this freedom is real, he requests the waitress to bring him something "alive", setting the scene for one of the most talked about parts of the film, the octopus. After Dae-Su eats the octopus he passes out and the waitress takes pity on him and allows him to sleep in her apartment, the beginning of a bond that goes deeper than either of them know. She joins him on his quest and soon enough he is face to face with his captor who gives Dae-Su a challenge. He has five days to either figure out for himself why he was captured or everyone woman he cares for will die. What follows is an hour and a half of the most intense cinematic experience of my life. Dae-Su's passion, and for that matter Park Chan-Wook's, drips from every frame of this film. The characters in the film have the kind of passion for life that only comes from extreme adversity, and it doesn't get any more extreme than Oldboy. Oh Dae-Su puts his own life on the line over and over again through the film and without qualm. Not to mention the twist ending that everyone was talking about and yet no one mentioned because it was so perfect and so shocking that it could only be appreciated in the context of the film and to take it away from that context it would lose its power. These were of the most transforming 2 hours of my life as a cinephile. Tartan's 2 disc special edition of Oldboy is worthy of the film, with the second disc packing a number of featurettes on everything from the film's music, to its judicious use of CGI, to very entertaining and informative interviews with the cast and crew. This is a film which will be a reference point for film geeks from here to eternity, nothing like it is likely ever to be made again. That is fine with me, because this is an absolutely perfect film.
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Dark, vibrant and twisted revenge thriller by Korean director Chan-Wook Park. Oh Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) has never taken his role as husband and father seriously and has just been released from police custody for drunk and disorderly behaviour on his own baby daughter's birthday. When he finds himself in solitary confinement in a prison cell after being mysteriously abducted on the street, he has no idea what is going on or why. A year into his imprisonment, he learns from the small television in his cell that his wife is dead, and that he himself is suspected of the crime. When, fifteen years later, he is released as suddenly and inexplicably as he was detained, he is determined to track down his tormentors and wreak his revenge. But little does he know that his kidnappers have even worse horrors in store for him...
Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Having knocked out judges at this year’s Cannes, winning the Grand Prix Du Jury prize and championed by Tarantino, Park Chan-Wook’s startling OLD BOY comes out on DVD in a fantastic two-disc set. Unsettling but ingenious and darkly comic, it’s a revenge movie wrapped in a mystery that twists the nerves at every scene. Following a drunken spree, a businessman is arrested and imprisoned for 15 years, not knowing his crime or who his captors are. Suddenly, he’s released and given three days to discover why he was shut away and who was responsible. A critical and box-office hit, the double disc set includes newly created English subtitles and commentaries with a exclusive Park Chan-Wook interview and original UK trailer.
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