Oldboy (2004)
Also known as "Old Boy"
End of confrontation, one must die.
Starring: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Gang Hye-jung, Kim Byoung-ok, Chi Dae-han, Oh Dal-su, Lee Seung-shin, Yoon Jin-seo, Oh Tae-gyung, Ahn Yeon-suk, Yoo Il-han, Lee Young-hui, Kim Young-ae, Lee Mimi, Han Jae-duk, Kwak Jeong-ae, Kim San, Jang Chae-soo, Im Seol-ah, Im Seung-yong, Choi Chang-hak, Shin Bi-jun, Sung Suk-je, Choi Jae-sub
Director: Park Chan-wook
Running Time: 120 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 18
Action, Mystery, Thriller
On DVD Revenge is a theme as old as western literature itself, but in the aftermath of 9/11 it has come under renewed cinematic scrutiny. Recently we have had the ironic postmodernism of Quentin Tarantino's
DVD Extras: Disc One: Anamorphic 2.35:1; choice of Dolby digital 2.0/Dolby digital-EX 5.1 Surround/DTS-ES digital surround 6.1; optional English subtitles; scene selection; original theatrical trailer; full audio commentary 1 (Korean language, English subtitles) with director/co-writer Park Chan-wook affably describing the thinking behind each scene, the motivation of the characters, the origin of the names on Oh Dae-su's long list of suspects (they are all filmmakers with whom Chan-wook had previously worked), the influence of renaissance painting on the corridor fight sequence and of 'Dressed to Kill' on the editing of the school sequence, and his desire to make the ending "as unclear as possible…an unhappy happy ending or a happy unhappy ending"; full audio commentary 2 (Korean language, English subtitles) with Park Chan-wook and DOP Chung Chung-hoon on the use of a bleach bypass process and green filters, on the 17 takes required to shoot the corridor scene, on restricting themselves mostly to very wide shots or close-ups, on occasional CGI touch-ups and colour corrections, and on the snow in the final sequence (which had to be collected and then poured from above by the crew); full audio commentary 3 (Korean language, English subtitles) with Park Chan-wook and actors Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae and Kang Hye-jung all giggling away ("the viewer will think we're silly people") while discussing Min-sik's flatulence and bad breath, the 30 hours without rest it took to film the sushi bar sequence, the embarrassment of everyone except Hye-jung while shooting the sex scene, Ji-tae's crowd-pleasing posterior, and the existence of a short film called 'Memories of Oldboy' which combines 'Memories of Murder' with 'Oldboy'.
Disc Two: 'Flashback' (23min) Chan-wook, Hye-jung, Min-sik, Ji-tae answer questions from each other and from members of the 'Oldboy' fanclub about the film; 'The Cast Remembers' (11min) producer Im Seung-yong on securing Chan-wook and Min-sik for an adaptation of the Japanese manga, Chung-hoon on the influence of 'Se7en' on the film's bleached, sickly look; 'Production Design' (13min) Son Chong-hee on Oh Dae-su's hairstyle (which Chan-wook says was "the starting point of the look of the film") and Cho Sang-gyung on the costumes (Ji-tae's was inspired by 'American Psycho'), wallpaper and carefully coded pattern motifs in the film; 'CGI featurette' (7min) FX technical director Chung Sung-jin on Dae-su's and Mido's ant fantasies, the corridor fight sequence (the knife in Dae-su's back was painstakingly added by computer), colour correction in the school flashbacks, the blending of two shots to create an impossibly deep focus, and the arduous frame-by-frame removal of foam from the dam water; 'The Music Score' (17min) Chan-wook and Cho Young-wook comment on their inspiration and intention for the different musical themes (each named after their favourite films); 'Le Grand Prix at Cannes' (9min) Chan-wook, Min-sik, Ji-tae, Hye-Jung, Young-wook and Seung-yong reminisce about their success at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Tartan exclusive interview with Chan-wook by Mark Salisbury (22min) which, annoyingly, is presented complete with an interpreter when it might better have been edited to half the length and subtitled - still, entertaining for its revelation that the octopus sequence had to be shot four times (with Min-sik, a buddhist, apologising to each octopus); there are also shorter interviews with Chan-wook (7min), with author of the original Japanese manga Tsuchiya Garon (2min), with actors Min-sik (6min), Ji-tae (4min), Hye-jung (4min), Yoon Jin-seo (4min), Ji Dae-han (3min), Kim Byoung-ok (3min), Oh Dal-soo (3min), Oh Kwang-rok (3min) and Lee Seun-shin (3min); 10 deleted scenes (24min), with optional director's commentary, including a long and hilarious improvised sequence of Oh Dae-su at the police station, a glimpse of the corridor fight sequence as originally conceived (i.e. violently cut-up rather than the long single ta
It's Got: A protracted attempt to tunnel out of a cell using a single chopstick; ant hallucinations; distinctive dumplings; an octopus swallowed live; Oedipal underpinnings; one of the most perversely symmetrical acts of revenge ever imagined; a character who cuts out his own tongue (à la 'Ichi the Killer'); a man's struggle to remember his past depicted as his pursuit of his younger self through an Escher-like maze of staircases and hallways; and the spectacle of Oh, armed only with a hammer, taking on a vast gang in the confines of a very narrow corridor.
It Needs: To be seen to be believed.
Alternatives: 'Sympathy for Mr Vengeance', Ichi the Killer, Save the Green Planet!, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Code 46
Summary: Forget 'The Punisher' and 'Man on Fire' - this mesmerising revenger's tragicomedy shows just how far-reaching the tentacles of mad vengeance can be.
Review Date: 24th October 2004
External Links
Official Web Site
Oldboy at the IMDB
Trailer
Windows Media Trailer
Comments12 Comments |
| Great movie! Like, an arthouse revenge flick from Korea... A++ highly recommended. It is worthy. |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 02 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| awesome ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| Comment by:- cloony | 2 | 05 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| superb |
| Comment by:- alex | | 11 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| Brilliant film!You know its good when everyone comes out of the cinema in silent reflection at how mental it was! |
| Comment by:- Eddie | | 11 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| this has seriously been one of the best revenge films i have ever seen. and at least the best shot movie i have seen in recent history. think of cast away..but then add some menacing force. i really am interested about the 2006 release |
| Comment by:- fuzzy hat | | 24 November 2004 | ip: logged |
| what the **** is the ****in ending to this ****in movie?? for **** sake tell me...****in hell.. |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 02 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| korean movies usually suck...but this movie rocked!! Dark, twisted, but solid. Highly recommended. PS. I wanted to see more of the hynotizing chick (Lee Seung-Shin) --especially her legs and that red dress. (she was hot. lol. but I digress). GO WATCH THIS FLICK! |
| Comment by:- GK | | 20 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| the end, the grin? When you laugh the world laughs with you when you cry you cry alone. The 15 years of imprisonment taught him not to cry so at that moment in time all he could was that manic grin. |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 21 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| omg what a tense, exiciting, crazy movie |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 21 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| god damn imagine tarantino made kill bill but instead of samurai sword fights he used a hammer some 4x4 n a fat guy who gets beaten down alot and his gang and added humour/incest/squid/slicing your own tongue off/some weird short guy who can throw people thorugh windows......and that the hero is a guy |
| Comment by:- hoang88 | | 22 December 2004 | ip: logged |
| Awesome, Unbelivable |
| Comment by:- Anonymous | | 04 January 2005 | ip: logged |
| Chanwook Park is the best f**kin GENIUS i've ever seen since 90's out of all those filmmakers in every part on this planet. Now OLDBOY is a classic. No more to say. Just watch it, and if you get damnly hammered by it, give next tries to his former one (and the first one of Vengeance Trilogy by Park) "Sympathy For Mr.Vengeance" and coming next one (and 3rd/Last one of Trilogy) "Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" as well. |
| Comment by:- Terry | | 16 July 2005 | ip: logged |
