Review of Lady Vengeance (2005) by Dave J — 16 Jun 2011

Friday, June 17, 2011.

(2005) Lady Vengeance.

(In Korean with English subtitles).

PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR.

Third of Chan-wook Park's "revenge" trilogy and probably best one so far which is not saying much! Tools and set up similar to the first 2 films "Sympathy For Mr Vengeance" and "Oldboy" which has a young lady whose just gotten out of prison and by using Pedro Aldomovar's technique upon the first 30 or 40 minutes showcases present and previous what she did while she was in prison, where the lady interacts with other inmates and how much an impact she has with them, only until as the film progresses, viewers would soon learn that her unselfish and good intentions was only to request a favor once these other female inmates had gotten out. Like the first two Chan- wook Park "retribution" films, the movie is near plotless but viewers should be able to identify with the central character easily and why she is doing this, and it's to avenge the person resposible who landed her their in the first place, and has expected intentions to expect assistence from the other inmates which may lead to the expected conclusion shown at the end, it's just a question of whether this plan would actually work!

Theirs also remnants of Fritz Lang's "M" before turning into Miike's "Audition" or Besson's "Taken" but not as sick and disgusting as the first two of Parks' films. The only problem with this film as well as the first two of the revenge movies are that they're very "nihilistic" with solutions solved by means of shock violence, most normal human beings won't do and can be shown on film. I like this film the most because the central character is easy to identify and with psychological justification for her actions no matter how barbaric and heinous it can be, unlike the characters from the first two films which the shock can be tolerated up to a certain point before saying, that's going a little too far!

Strong 3 out 4 stars.