Review of Lady Vengeance (2005) by Juhohn L — 14 Oct 2012

After being released from prison after 13 years of service, Lee Geum-Ja goes on a hunt to find to find her nemesis while searching for her lost daughter. In prison, she became known as,''Kind-Hearted Geum-Ja" for her deeds of benevolence towards her fellow inmates, youth, and good looks. While out of prison, she takes up work at Naruse bakery and gets her attire from her former inmates that she helped while incarcerated. Being the third and final film in the Vengeance Trilogy the plotting in Lady Vengeance is the most intricate, poignant, and complex of the three.

The story is mostly told through flashbacks, Geum-Ja's relationships, spirituality, and poignant imagery one would expect from someone like Ingmar Bergman. This movie is rather difficult to sum up in words alone. One either loves or hates this poignant style of filmmaking, but I found it very superb. Geum-Ja has a subplot about teaching the art of repentance to everybody she develops relationships with while seeking revenge to try to atone for her past crimes. It has been openly debated as to whether Geum-Ja has an attrition. She is portrayed has having dual personalities: one dressed in white garments and another in black attire.

Like Park, I don't consider this movie to be pro or anti-Christian. I look at it as a character study about redemption and a look at mans' duality. This is one of those movies that requires more than one viewing due to its complex structuring. As good as this movie's story is, what I described isn't the entirety. As I stated, the plot structuring is complex and is difficult to put into words. One would have to see it to know it.

The performances in this film are another noteworthy thing. Every actor comes out as strong. Most of the actors from the previous films have parts in this movie. Actors Shin Ha-kyun and Song Kang-ho (Ryu and Dong-jin Park from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) make cameos as two thugs hired by Baek (Choi Min-shik) to kill Geum-Ja. Yoo Ji-tae (Woo-jin from Oldboy) plays the adult counterpart of Won-mo-the boy who was murdered at the age of five and whose ghost haunts Geum-Ja. Hye-jeong Kang (Mi-do from Oldboy) also makes a cameo as a TV announcer. Most of the characters the returning actors play in this film are minor and are not the same. Park admitted that this was done as a way to ''bring the whole trilogy together." This is one dynamic of this film that I love.

Even though the characters they play aren't the same, all of the actors still perform strong and give a strong incentive for the viewer(s) to watch this classic trilogy in its entirety. Choi Min-shik plays Mr. Baek- the man responsible for murderous kidnappings and Geum-Ja's victim. The relationship Geum-Ja has with Mr. Baek ranges from student, lover, accomplice, then nemesis. Geum-Ja is played by Lee Young-ae. Lee Young-ae is new in this trilogy and has not been in the previous films.

The cinematography to this film is excellent. As I said in my review of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, I think that Lady Vengeance stands out the strongest in the area of cinematography. Both the fantasy and reality images are perfectly captured and do the film so much justice in adding to its style. The music is also great. Every track begins and ends perfectly in correlation to the images and is the most colorful of the three. Having been done by Choi Seung-hyun-the composer responsible for Oldboy's theme music-it would stand to reason.

Overall, Lady Vengeance is a very welcome conclusion to a classic trilogy. While not my favorite of the three, it stands out strong in its own way and does what it was meant to do very well. My favorite film is Oldboy, but if I were to describe how each one stood out; I'd say the first film was better in terms of acting, the second in narrative, and this one in filming. That being said, I advise everyone reading this review to check out all three and watch them. This is a trilogy that any fan of Asian thrillers cannot afford to miss. Park is a wonderful director and I look forward to his upcoming film, Stoker.

*Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween.