Oldboy (2003)
Monday, March 13th, 2006
Directed by: Chan-wook Park
Screenplay by: Jo-yun Hwang, Chun-hyeong Lim, Joon-hyung Lim, Chan-wook Park
Cast: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang, Dae-han Ji, Dal-su Oh
Runtime: 120 min
Rating: R
Trailer
Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy is a cross between the Kill Bill franchise, with all its glorified and highly stylized violence, and David Lynch’s head-scratching sense of morality. One of the most successful films to come out of South Korea, Oldboy continues Asian cinema’s tradition of presenting quality films that eschew American cinema’s pandering morals with thoughtful characters and insightful themes, all without totally abandoning their popcorn-entertainment impulses. Dae-su Oh (Min-sik Choi) is mysteriously kidnapped while standing on a street corner and placed in an elaborate prison resembling a hotel room, without ever knowing why he’s being punished or by whom. Every so often, the room is gassed and after Dae-su passes out, his kidnappers come inside the room to clean up and give him a haircut. Never seeing his tormentors, Dae-su spends 15 years inside his makeshift prison, losing his mind and plotting revenge on his supposed enemies - even going so far as to make a list of all the people he’s wronged in an attempt to figure out his mysterious imprisonment. This setup owes a lot to The Count of Monte Cristo and when Dae-su plans his escape by digging a hole through the wall, we’re led to believe that he’ll pull a Shawshank Redemption to freedom. That’s not what happens though. Dae-su, after enduring a drug-induced hypnosis, is released from his prison and wakes up on a rooftop with the task of piecing together his bizarre history.
It is here during the second half that the film begins to occupy the normal plot devices of recent revenge films. Dae-su quickly meets an attractive woman named Mi-do (Hye-jeong Kang) at a sushi restaurant, where, in one of the most talked about scenes, Dae-su eats a live squid. Working together they uncover an elaborate trap that has been in the works by someone from Dae-su’s shady past. Working as a modern film noir, the film is both mysterious and calculating in its desire to slowly unravel the plot but it leaves the way for plenty of showy action set pieces. Although the film is violent, most of the killing takes place off-screen, but as we all know, what we don’t end up seeing ultimately makes us feel even more uncomfortable. The violence however isn’t just for show, and while there are several stylistic flourishes that seem to wink at the audience – a frame pauses to show a dotted line between a hammer and a gangster’s head before it strikes – the heavy subject matter, given even more weighty by the twist near the end, lends the film an authoritative force that never cheapens the overall result. I can’t say too much about the twist without giving away the emotional crisis presenting Dae-su’s character, but it’s safe to say it will put a lot of people off. My first impression was that the director and the screenwriters were more concerned with shocking the audience with taboo subject matter to exploit their horror and create sympathy for Dae-su. And while I firmly believe their decision is exploitative and primarily used as a plot device, their decision works within the context of the film and lends Oldboy an interesting subtext after repeated viewings.
Most of the plot devices and characters in Oldboy have been done countless times before in better films, but what elevates this from convention is the way the film looks and sounds. From the striking cinematography of its opening images to the use of classical and electronic music to punctuate the action, Oldboy delivers a visually stimulating feast for all those diehard fans of edgy comic books (or, graphic novels) to general fans of the dark and unsettling. Hard cuts punctuated with heavy and atmospheric music and brilliant acting by Min-sik Choi as the titular character, all provide a visually exciting film that is easy to slip into almost as soon as the first image appears on screen. If that wasn’t enough, the film’s best sequence will most likely be copied several times. Dae-su emerges from an elevator to find the hallway in front of him littered with henchmen blocking his exit. In one long tracking shot showing the side view of the hallway, Dae-su begins his onslaught and endures blows from all sides, and at one point he is stabbed in the back and piled on by several attackers. Just when you think the attack has ended, the scene continues with explosive intensity that easily one-ups the cartoonish and overrated burly brawl in the Matrix Reloaded.
Richard X
© Cinephile Magazine, 2006
