Review of Oldboy (2003) by Anthony E — 28 Aug 2015

"Be it a stone or a grain of sand, in water they both sink".

Now I'm at number two in the Vengeance Trilogy and at the film that really kicked off Park Chan-wook's career off. Hailed as one of the best Korean films ever main and winner of the Grand Prix prize at Cannes back in 2005. Lofty expectations to say the least - and has been even given the Hollywood treatment (whether that's a good thing or not).

The thing that has come up time and time again about 'Oldboy' are the buzz words 'shocking violence', 'disturbing' and 'disgusting'. Maybe I'm one of those 'De-sensitised' masses. And maybe my reaction to that claim is confusion a shrug and an utterance of "Horse Shit" proves it. But it's apparent that the violence isn't the be and end all. It isn't the point.

"Be it a stone or a grain of sand, in water they both sink" stuck with me, no matter who big or small teh impact can still be felt the same. Something uttered near the beginning when 'Dae-Su' (Choi Min-sik) (a generally dislikeable but not horrible person) is kidnapped, imprisoned for reasons unknown and then released 15 years later with little explanation. The rest of the film is unsurprisingly his quest to find out who and more importantly why. But this is not really a mystery in fact the one who orchestrated this sits in plain view and is more interested in 'Dae-su' finding out. Giving him the ultimatum of either killing him now and never know or find out something that will haunt him forever. 'Oldboy' is a two way street of revenge much like 'Sympathy For Mr.Vengeance' only we know one's motive and not the others.

It slowly unravels and never gives out more than it needs. He's helped by 'Gang Hye-jung' an eager to please female chef - their meeting containing the now infamous 'live octopus' eating scene. It gets better as it goes with some shaky and stylistically pointless scenes towards the beginning have disappeared by the 40 minute mark. 'Dae-su' is not the same person who went in, before belligerent and uncaring but now craves human touch (starting with his feeling of the suicidal man on the roof when he's freed.) But still finds it hard to trust anyone.

Not knowing anything about 'Dae-su' doesn't make any difference those first 10 minutes are all we need to know he's off the rails and has conceivably pissed of a lot people (confirmed by his list) There's very little to like at all about 'Dae-su' or his captor for that matter. Both are cut-throat in their revenge. Violence is a by-product what they want is the other to beg and grovel. it all accumulates into an ending that seems to be wrapped up prior but twists the knife and throws in one more shocking act.

'Oldboy' shows the human spirit at its most erratic, there's nothing nice here to be had. The ending is as sad and heartbreaking as anything iv'e seen in a movie. The violence the actions and yes even the octopus pale in comparison to the shrivelled man at the end. Some will point to the violence, the teeth pulling the disturbing character actions but the tale that I see is more than that and it's well worth seeing.