Review of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) by Brooks C — 02 Oct 2012

In lower class Seoul, a deaf mute factory worker named Ryu sacrifices his dreams of being an artist only to save money to donate his kidneys to his sister who is dying of kidney failure. Broke and fired from his job, he turns to an illegal organ smuggling group in hopes of having his ends met only to discover he's been ripped off. While he plots revenge against his wrongdoers, Ryu's Communist girlfriend, Cha Yeong-mi prompts him to kidnap his former boss's daughter, Yoosun in response to him being fired and hold her for 26 million won. After Ryu's sister discovers the the plot she commits suicide. Ryu buries her near a lake and things start to take a toll for the worst. Yoosun drowns and when her father- a wealthy industrialist President Dong-jin Park of Ilson Electronics and Ryu's former boss- discovers his daughter's death both men go on a rampage through underground Seoul to get revenge for their losses.

This movie was directed by Chan-wook Park. He made this movie prior to Oldboy and this film is considered the first in the classic Vengeance Trilogy. While looked at as the black sheep of the three films and the precursor to Oldboy, I think that Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a film that should be looked at in a different manner than the other two films. I think that it should be looked at as the precursor not just to Oldboy, but a first look at Park's masterful style of directing in this genre as well as the present K-thrillers that we look at as the future of cinema.

While not as masterful as Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance does pack some good thrills and intriguing plot that one would expect from a director like Park. The story may not be as engrossing as Oldboy, but it works well enough. Another noteworthy thing about this movie is the cinematography. It's absolutely wonderful. Every aerial shot is wonderfully done and a lot of the set pieces are very massive. Granted, Asian films usually place a lot of emphasis on sets and capturing massive landscapes in a single image. Oldboy and Lady Vengeance had great cinematography as well, but if I had to compare the three I'd say that that I like this film's better than Oldboy but maybe not as much as Lady Vengeance.

As far as music is concerned, there isn't that much of it. Out of the trilogy, this movie does a more effective job at maintaining realism. This movie's structure is like No Country for Old Men where the action just progresses and there is very little to no music playing in the background. Like with No Country for Old Men, this fact makes the film more realistic in comparison to the later two films in the trilogy. Granted, it's not bad but it only plays in specific times. Like near the end and during the closing credits.

The acting is also very top notch. Park is played by Song Kang-ho (Thirst, JSA, Memories of Murder, The Good, the Bad, the Weird). Ryu is played by Shin Ha-kyun (Save the Green Planet, The Front Line). Cha is played by Bae Doo-na (The Host, Linda Linda Linda). All of the actors do very well with their characters. Shin Ha-kyun does a great job at portraying Ryu. Since Ryu is a deaf mute most of his dialogue and inner monologue is told through Korean Sign Language, subtitles, and silent movie dynamics of having the screen black out prompting the viewers to read what's presented. We hardly see such a dynamic done in today's world. The only modern film I've seen to do it was the Chinese movie Three Times. That was done during the second story of the movie. Which was in color but was silent with only music playing in the background. This dynamic was done to capture the nostalgia of the time period that was presented in the story.

Some of my readers may be wondering: ''If this is the first movie in the trilogy and Oldboy is the second, then why did I review Oldboy prior to this one?" Oldboy is my most favorite out of the three. It was a review that I wanted to tackle for a long time. Another thing is that doing the review in the Halloween month of October didn't occur to me at the time. Since it has, I'll be reviewing Horror movies as well as J and K-thrillers. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance may not be the best, but it's certainly worth a look for anybody who is a fan of Park and his style of filmmaking. Since this is the second movie of the Vengeance Trilogy that I've reviewed, stay tuned for my review of Lady Vengeance.

*Thanks for reading and Happy Halloween.