Oldboy

Asian miracle, which didn't affect me. The music accompaniment is flawless, but visually, even the highly praised scenes reach the limit of mediocrity. If there is something brilliant, it's the punchline, too bad that right after it, director Park "adds blood" and loses me again on the way to the climax. I understand everyone who was moved by the last minute or captivated by the film as a whole. I understand them, but I will never belong with them. (12/29/2005)

Revenge can take many forms. It can be cold-blooded, sadistic, brutal, chaotic or even systematic. For South Korean director Park Chan-wook, it is mainly problematic on every possible level, from its conceptual and moral aspects, to the pleasure of carrying it out. In a gripping stylised form, Park maps the protagonist’s bloody odyssey to uncover the sense of his long imprisonment and the person who orchestrated it. In the ingeniously constructed story, the viewer is in the same position as the tragic hero, whose ideas about the course and further development of his revenge are constantly frustrated by his nemesis. At the time of its release, much attention was focused on the extreme scenes, but it has already been forgotten that Oldboy brilliantly combines excess, tense emotions, coolness, pathos, wrenching catharsis and humorous exaggeration, all of which work superbly here. In addition to that, Park goes much deeper in his screenplay and revenge thus becomes only a McGuffin in a wrenching treatise on anger and its ability to blind the one feeling it, the toxic nature of machismo, and the painful journey toward seeing the light. Here, the epiphany has the meaning of both transcending one’s own egocentric point of view and seeing what one has done to others, as well as the utterly devastating impact that it has on one’s own conscience and personal happiness, which can then be found only in oblivion. ____ Oldboy was Park’s first collaboration with Jung Jung-hoon, who subsequently became Park’s court cinematographer, and their symbiotic ambition, manifested in outrageous camera compositions and staging challenges, pushed the film, Park’s filmography and even international cinema to a new level. After all, it is no coincidence that many years later Edgar Wright chose Jung to shoot Last Night in Soho, which features incredible camerawork, where two versions of one character alternate in one shot without the use of digital effects, but thanks solely to the choreography of the actors and the movement of the camera. (08/20/2022)

OldBoy does not deny its obvious inspiration from the manga comic style, from which the source material ultimately emerged, and the director's film school, which originated from classical commercial production of action crime dramas. However, it is also a visually provocative film full of interesting cuts and sophisticated tricks in the style of David Fincher. A film that conveys the creation of these declining genres to the festival audience. Who doesn't like violence, perversity, and morbidity, if it is presented somewhat more complicatedly and masquerades as an art film? However, in terms of emotional appeal, East Asian cinema has not consistently appealed to me (except for rare exceptions), and OldBoy is no exception in that regard. For me, it is an overrated film that reminded me of Lynch's film Wild at Heart in terms of style. If Lynch were to make a film with a similar theme, I would probably like it better. Especially because Wild at Heart is, after all, a little closer to parody, or rather, it does not take itself so seriously. Overall impression: 25%. (03/28/2009)

Emotionally very cold as usual, with totally hysterical actors (I wonder what that dog ending was supposed to mean, no wonder the person laughed), and what was supposed to shock emotionally was rather funny. The highly praised visuals were also not groundbreaking, we’ve seen bigger camera flourishes before Park. As usual, the gratuitous violence isn’t missing, which is again gratuitous. I don't see what is so extraordinary here. And the plot? Chaos and confusion. In the end, you don’t know who is who and what is what. A considerably foolish and cumbersome project. Apparently, I didn't understand it all. Or maybe there is nothing to understand and it truly is just an ordinary and narratively muddled mix of violence and revenge. Could it be rated so highly for its somewhat “exotic” touch? That is the only thing undeniably present. It truly is something unusual. (06/07/2007)

Well, wasn’t that a shock. After a long time I was flabbergasted by a twist! A great story, fantastic performances and direction, and a very interesting narrative style. The cultural differences can be felt and I didn’t get the emotional side of Old Boy, but thumbs up for everything else. PS: This is one of those films where bringing the story closer through a western remake would not be out of the question, provided it gets in the hands of a competent director, of course. (05/27/2010)