Review of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) by Lorraine C — 04 Oct 2008

It's hard to classify what kind of film this is. It could be a drama about a brother trying to find organs for his sister, a socio-political film about the class divide in Korea, a revenge film about good people doing horrible things. Regardless of what kind of film it is one thing is for certain and that is that it is remarkably disturbing. Not necessarily because of any explicit actions, though there are great visceral, graphic shots, and not necessarily because of the subject matter, though once again the descent that the two protagonists (or antagonists, its difficult to tell) is powerful. The most disturbing parts of the film come through the direction; through understated shots, scenes that don't quite make sense, music or sound that clash.

Having seen only one of Park's other films, one characteristic that exists in his direction is not only a fusion of different and often disperate styles but the lens of art house: his shot selection, non-sequiturs, pacing of scenes all could be found in an art film. This sensability is ultimately what makes his films that much more disturbing than they otherwise may have been: we will see a shot or a scene that is irreverent directly following a harrowing graphic one.

The only place where this film makes a mis-step is the ending, where contrary to the rest of the film where so much is left unsaid, and the viewer is asked to fill in the gaps, we are shown an extra scene which is probably superfluous. Apart from that this is a really good film, though I probably wont want to watch it again any time soon.