Can Korea bring it? Damn straight it can.

After Jayne's enthusiastic review of Audition yesterday, I was reminded of a Korean film that I recently watched and still can't completely stop thinking about almost 4 weeks later. This film is Oldboy. So today I'm going to explain a synopsis of the film (without spoiling the major plot twists) and recommend this film.

Oldboy starts off with a scene of our main character, Dae-su, who is blitzed out of his mind (as drunk as Train when his "ass hurt") and being held by the cops in an unnamed Korean city. Through his drunken ramblings, we learn that Dae-su is a funny guy & somewhat successful, but his family life more or less isn't the most healthy or ideal. Dae-su is then kidnapped and imprisoned in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As Dae-su strives to explain his imprisonment and get his revenge, he soon finds out that not only his kidnapper has still plans for him.

A friend of mine explained that this film is part of a 3 part film series by the director, Chan-wook Park, dubbed "Mr. Vengeance" by critics and fans. Park apparently made three films that studied vengeance and revenge in their most raw forms. After watching Oldboy, I was reminded of how Kubrick (one of my Top 5 Favorite Directors) always tooks a theme (Lust in Eyes Wide Shut, Rage & Death in Full Metal Jacket, and Isolation in The Shining) and focused his films around that theme until it was singed into your brain for days on end. Oldboy sits with you after viewing in the same way.

Chan-wook has been quoted saying, "I don't feel enjoyment watching films that evoke passivity. If you need that kind of comfort, I don't understand why you wouldn't go to a spa." Which explains the raw emotion in his plots. He also justified his themes with, "Basically, I'm throwing out the question 'When is such violence justified?' To get that question to touch the audience physically and directly - that's what my goal is. In the experience of watching my film, I don't want the viewer to stop at the mental or the intellectual. I want them to feel my work physically. And because that is one of my goals, the title 'exploitative' will probably follow me around for a while."

The screenplay is very well done. Every detail and camera shot has been thought out. The special effects are subtle in most places, surreal in others, but are overall very effective and visually stunning. Even though you are somewhat sickened by what human beings will do for revenge, the story is believable and you are sucked into it's mystery.

I also need to mention that there is a fight scene where the main character uses only a hammer to take on a mob in close quarters that is maybe one of the Top 5 Fight Scenes that I've ever scene, all shot in one shot. That said, it's not an action film, but rather a twisted drama and disturbing mystery. With the subject matter at hand, the movie is not an upper & definately not a date movie. But it is a great film.