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Starring
:
Choi
Min-Sik
Yoo
Ji-Tae
Gang
Hye-Jung
Producer
:
Kim
Dong-Joo
Director
:
Park
Chan-Wook
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OLDBOY
(2003)
A.K.A.
- Old Boy
Reviewed
by Rob Daniel
Park
Chan-Wook has quietly built a respectable cult following in
the four years since his directorial debut 'JSA', but thanks
to the Jury Grand Prix victory at Cannes has stunned the world
with the shocking, exhilarating, cruelly comic and ultimately
heartbreaking 'Oldboy'.
Park
makes cinema with a vengeance. He loves studying the
effects of vengeance. Although 'Oldboy' reportedly marks
the second instalment of Park's Revenge Trilogy, begun with 'Sympathy
For Mr. Vengeance' and presumably concluding with the
upcoming 'Sympathy For Lady Vengeance', Park's contribution of
'Cut' to 'Three...
Extremes', plus 'JSA', all depict characters who sacrifice
their humanity for that cold dish.
'Oldboy's
premise is irresistible: Oh Dae-su (Choi), a boorish white
collar worker estranged from his wife and daughter, is
kidnapped seemingly for no reason and imprisoned in a
hotel-style room for fifteen years. On the eve of his
escape, following madness and suicide attempts, he is suddenly
released. Confronted by Lee Woo-Jin (Yoo), his
kidnapper, he is told he has five days to discover the truth
or his new close friend Mido (Gang) will die.
With
a plot this mysterious and audacious, the danger lies in
protracting the investigation and climaxing with disappointing
revelations. Working
from Tsuchiya Garon and Minegishi Nobuaki's original manga,
Park and his two co-writers keep the plot steamrolling toward
a terrible denouement with surprising twists, Lee finances
Oh's investigation and reveals himself early in the game while
the reason behind the kidnapping and the revenge is as vicious
as Oh's claw hammer. Dreamlike
flashbacks transform this revenger's tragedy into a study of
memory and loss, blurring the distinction between the victim
and the persecutor.
Definitely
not to everyone's taste, but ink black humour and Choi's
powerhouse performance prevent 'Oldboy' from becoming
unendurable: Oh Dae-Suk hunts down Lee by searching for the
dumplings he ate for fifteen years, he takes on an army of
heavies in one brilliant shot (apparently shot over three
days), tortures his jailer to the strains of The Four Seasons
and eats a live octopus.
In
Choi Min-Sik Park has an actor perfect for the demands of the
role. An intense
hulking bear of a man, he conveys both the fury that has honed
his physique and the arrogant stupidity that dooms him.
Yoo's Lee, slyly established as the Dr Frankenstein to
Oh's Monster, also succeeds as a charming, intelligent and
ruthless nemesis, while Gang's fragile performance is perfect
to humanise the beast Mido is trying to redeem.
Park's
handling of this explosive material is utterly assured and he
also surrounds himself with first class collaborators.
Cinematographer Jung Jung-Hoon's visuals, inspired by
'Se7en' DP Darius Khondji, create a darkly comic book noir,
art director Ryu Seong-Hie's bizarre set decoration provides a
near subliminal sense of unreality, and composers Park and Jo
Yeong-Wook's mournful string based score echoes Hollywood
thrillers from the forties and fifties.
With
Tarantino screaming his praises and an 'Oldboy' Hollywood
remake in the offing (that will inevitably buckle where this
film refuses to compromise) Park Chan-Wook can take any
direction he chooses. He
has already declined an offer to remake 'The Evil Dead', so
here's hoping he does not stray too far from his native Korea,
which allows him to make radical and inspiring cinema such as
this.
Rating:
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