Oldboy
Rated: R
Runtime: 2 hours
Directed by: Chan-wook Park
Starring:
Min-sik Choi - Oh Daesu
Ji-tae Yu - Lee Woojin
Hye-jeong Kang - Mido
Dae-han Ji - Joo-hawn No
Dal-su Oh - Park Cheol-woong
Byeong-ok Kim - Mr. Han
Seung-Shin Lee - Hyung-ja Yoo
Jin-seo Yun - Lee Soo-ah
Is Oldboy one of the best revenge films ever made or one of the worst? Okay, I'll just spoil it for you now: it's one of the best. However, a casual viewing may see loads of problem. The revenge is too extravagantly planned. The characters are too ridiculous to occur in modern-day South Korea unless the people of South Korea are far more fucked up than we've been lead to believe. The motive for revenge is either too controversial and the twist is too comical to be horrific. The use of hypnosis in the film is a major cheat. All possible arguments, all of them wrong.
The set-up is deceptively simple: on a rainy night, a drunk man named Oh Daesu (Min-sik Choi) is kidnapped and held prisoner for fifteen years. He doesn't know his crime, his captors, or the duration of his sentence. And just as mysteriously as he's imprisoned, he is released. Who was behind it and why did they do it? It's a fair set-up for a revenge flick. Oh Daesu runs on vengeance sparkled with the madness that fifteen years imprisonment brings.
To really discuss this film, I have to go into spoiler territory because it's only on repeat viewings and seeing it with the knowledge of the ending that I can really push past the hang-ups some might have with the film. So for those simply wondering if this is a worthwhile film worthy of their two hours, I unequivocally say yes. It's not an easy film but it's not one where you feel you wasted your time. Then I hope you'll come back to this review and think I'm right or totally off base in my observations. Okay, I'll just spoil it for you now: I'm right.
Now that you're back or you've already seen the film, let's move on. When I saw this film a second time, I couldn't help but be reminded of another revenge tale: "Scott Tenorman Must Die" from South Park. In that episode, Cartman is constantly hoodwinked by a kid who takes Cartman's money in exchange for worthless pubic hair. The entire episode is Cartman trying to get his money back and when Scott cruelly burns it in front of Cartman, the fat little nine-year-old tries various plots for revenge. The ending, which no one sees coming and is absolutely hilarious and shocking, is that Cartman tricks Scott into eating his own parents. Cartman gets up on the table and sings, "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I made you eat your parents!" On second viewing of Oldboy, I see Lee Woo-jin (Ji-tae Yu) singing at Oh Daesu, "Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! I made you fuck your daughter!" But now that I've seen it again, I see that everything works as it should.
A major theme in the film is the power of words to ruin lives. Just like Oh Daesu makes the suggestion that Lee Soo-ah (Jin-seo Yun) is a slut, so does the hypnotist makes the suggestions that will have Mido (Hye-jeong Kang) fall in love. Furthermore, Oh Daesu and Mido would never have become lovers if either had remembered the other. But just like Oh Daesu forgot his sin against Lee Woo-jin, so did they forget each other. As it always must be with revenge, it will come back around.
But the genius of Oldboy's twist isn't that Lee Woo-jin has made Oh Daesu sleep with his own daughter, but that Oh Daesu's entire revenge was actually Lee Woo-jin taking revenge on Oh Daesu. The original sinner is actually our protagonist; the man we thought had been wronged. And then, we see the sad futility of Lee Woo-jin's revenge. Even when he has shamed and degraded his enemy into madness, he still doesn't have his sister. He still let her fall off the bridge. His quest to ruin another man's life never repaired his own. So when he takes his own life in the elevator, it's disturbingly understandable.
Another aspect of the story that deserves recognition is that even though madness washes over every frame of the film, it's never used as an excuse. No one does anything simply because they're insane. As bizarre as any character's behavior may be, as much as they may have been driven to that point by insanity, their action are still grounded in their personalities and the story. Insanity is not a cop-out and it never should be.
And it's then that you realize that a film which at first seems to be making tremendous leaps and cheats to bring about this twist on the revenge flick is actually as tight and well-executed as Lee Woojin's plan against Oh Daesu. I don't even need to go into depth about the performances, the direction, the music, or any technical aspect of the film because even if you walked away from your first viewing thinking that the story hade made tremendous leaps and cheats, you still couldn't deny the artistry involved in telling that story. And once you realize how well the story comes together, you'll agree that it's one of the best revenge films ever made.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
1.4.08