"Even though I'm no more than a monster - don't I, too, have the right to live?"
Oldboy
Second film is Park Chan-wook's 'Revenge' trilogy proves the old adage that "a rock and a grain of sand weigh the same in water" - WTF??? Just SEE THIS!!!
3-1/2 stars (out of 4) [Oldeuboi/(2003)South Korea] - (1 hr. 58 min.)
[In English & Korean (subititled) / USA Distrib: Tartan USA]
Co-written & directed by Park Chan-wook
Co-writers: Hwang Jo-yun & Lim Jun-hyeong
Source: an original 'manga' story by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi
Cast ... Characters
Choi Min-sik ... 'Oh' Dae-soo
Yoo Ji-tae ... Lee Woo-jin
Gang Hye-jung ... Mido
Kim Byeong-ok ... Mr. Han
Jin-seo Yun ... Su-a/Girl In Hairshop
Review (from Festival Screening in NYC):
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone."
Forget "Kill Bill" or anything you may have heard about this film being a similar style bloodbath. Yes - there's violence, but it's all set up within a twisted revenge plot that turns into a total mindbender by the end of the film.
This story is part of the director's 'revenge trilogy' following "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and the upcoming "Lady Vengeance."
Due to the nature of the intricate plotting I can not go into story details except to say that the film opens with a man being arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct and then getting bailed out. A few moments later he is kidnapped and held in windowless hotel room for ...
... fifteen years.
Then he is mysteriously released just short of reaching his long engineered escape plan. The rest of the film focuses on his search for the man that imprisoned him and exacting his due revenge ...
Actor Choi Min-sik (as 'Oh') gives an Oscar-worthy portrayal of the varied mental states of an innocent man who's been drugged and brainwashed only to have his mind messed with even more when released from captivity. This guy's performance alone is worth the price of admission (you'll want to watch it more than once).
So if you don't mind a little sadistic violence (including eating a LIVE octopus) then you better move this one to the top of you NetFlix cue!!!
"I thought I'd lived a simple life. But I've sinned too much."
MORE cast: Ji Dae-han, Kim Su-hyeon, Lee Seung-jin, Yun Su-kyeong, Park Myeong-shin, & Chi Dae-han
From NYFF festival guide (Film Comment editor Gavin Smith):
"Cannes 2004 served up Oldboy, a state-of-the-art helping of Extreme Asian hyperpulp, which was awarded the festival's Grand Prize. In this high-concept manga adaptation, already set to be remade in Hollywood (by Justin Lin), a defiantly antisocial misfit (Choi Min-suk) finds himself enmeshed in an infernally baroque mind-bender, steadily building to a denouement whose perversity is worthy of Jacobean tragedy."
Oldboy
Second film is Park Chan-wook's 'Revenge' trilogy proves the old adage that "a rock and a grain of sand weigh the same in water" - WTF??? Just SEE THIS!!!
3-1/2 stars (out of 4) [Oldeuboi/(2003)South Korea] - (1 hr. 58 min.)
[In English & Korean (subititled) / USA Distrib: Tartan USA]
Co-written & directed by Park Chan-wook
Co-writers: Hwang Jo-yun & Lim Jun-hyeong
Source: an original 'manga' story by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi
Cast ... Characters
Choi Min-sik ... 'Oh' Dae-soo
Yoo Ji-tae ... Lee Woo-jin
Gang Hye-jung ... Mido
Kim Byeong-ok ... Mr. Han
Jin-seo Yun ... Su-a/Girl In Hairshop
Review (from Festival Screening in NYC):
"Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone."
Forget "Kill Bill" or anything you may have heard about this film being a similar style bloodbath. Yes - there's violence, but it's all set up within a twisted revenge plot that turns into a total mindbender by the end of the film.
This story is part of the director's 'revenge trilogy' following "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" and the upcoming "Lady Vengeance."
Due to the nature of the intricate plotting I can not go into story details except to say that the film opens with a man being arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct and then getting bailed out. A few moments later he is kidnapped and held in windowless hotel room for ...
... fifteen years.
Then he is mysteriously released just short of reaching his long engineered escape plan. The rest of the film focuses on his search for the man that imprisoned him and exacting his due revenge ...
Actor Choi Min-sik (as 'Oh') gives an Oscar-worthy portrayal of the varied mental states of an innocent man who's been drugged and brainwashed only to have his mind messed with even more when released from captivity. This guy's performance alone is worth the price of admission (you'll want to watch it more than once).
So if you don't mind a little sadistic violence (including eating a LIVE octopus) then you better move this one to the top of you NetFlix cue!!!
"I thought I'd lived a simple life. But I've sinned too much."
MORE cast: Ji Dae-han, Kim Su-hyeon, Lee Seung-jin, Yun Su-kyeong, Park Myeong-shin, & Chi Dae-han
From NYFF festival guide (Film Comment editor Gavin Smith):
"Cannes 2004 served up Oldboy, a state-of-the-art helping of Extreme Asian hyperpulp, which was awarded the festival's Grand Prize. In this high-concept manga adaptation, already set to be remade in Hollywood (by Justin Lin), a defiantly antisocial misfit (Choi Min-suk) finds himself enmeshed in an infernally baroque mind-bender, steadily building to a denouement whose perversity is worthy of Jacobean tragedy."
MOVIE TRIVIA
[*SPOILER* ALERT]
from the all-knowing IMDb.com
Based on Japanese Manga "Oldboy" by Minegishi Nobuaki and Tsuchiya Garon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Four live octopi were eaten for the scene with Dae-su in the sushi bar, a scene which provoked some controversy abroad. Eating live octopus in Korea is commonplace although it is usually sliced first. When the film won the Grand Prix at Cannes, the director thanked the octopi along with the cast and crew.
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Min-sik Choi trained for six weeks and lost twenty pounds to get in shape for the role of Dae-su, and did most of his own stuntwork.
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The telephone number (08-6600330) which is supposed to go to Oh Dae-su's daughter's foster parents home in Sweden, actually has been "shut down requested by the owner of the number" (that's what the voice says when you call the number). But you are referred to another number (08-54589400) which goes to "The Embassy of the republic of Korea" in Stockholm, Sweden.
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The famous one-take corridor scene was shot in three days.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The phrase "Like the gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like the bird from the hand of the fowler, free yourself," which was a clue to Woo-jin's residence, is actually from Proverbs 6:5 NOT Proverbs 6:4. The director once said that it was just a hoax, not a mistake.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scenes at Police Station with drunken and disorderly Dae-su Oh were the very last of scenes the director scheduled to film. Min-sik Choi (Dae-su Oh) adlibbed most of these "Drunken" scenes, including the scene of Dae-su Oh playing with toy wings that Dae-su Oh bought for his daughter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
[*SPOILER* ALERT]
from the all-knowing IMDb.com
Based on Japanese Manga "Oldboy" by Minegishi Nobuaki and Tsuchiya Garon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Four live octopi were eaten for the scene with Dae-su in the sushi bar, a scene which provoked some controversy abroad. Eating live octopus in Korea is commonplace although it is usually sliced first. When the film won the Grand Prix at Cannes, the director thanked the octopi along with the cast and crew.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Min-sik Choi trained for six weeks and lost twenty pounds to get in shape for the role of Dae-su, and did most of his own stuntwork.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The telephone number (08-6600330) which is supposed to go to Oh Dae-su's daughter's foster parents home in Sweden, actually has been "shut down requested by the owner of the number" (that's what the voice says when you call the number). But you are referred to another number (08-54589400) which goes to "The Embassy of the republic of Korea" in Stockholm, Sweden.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The famous one-take corridor scene was shot in three days.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The phrase "Like the gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like the bird from the hand of the fowler, free yourself," which was a clue to Woo-jin's residence, is actually from Proverbs 6:5 NOT Proverbs 6:4. The director once said that it was just a hoax, not a mistake.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scenes at Police Station with drunken and disorderly Dae-su Oh were the very last of scenes the director scheduled to film. Min-sik Choi (Dae-su Oh) adlibbed most of these "Drunken" scenes, including the scene of Dae-su Oh playing with toy wings that Dae-su Oh bought for his daughter.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr Han (@ left)doesn't speak a word throughout the movie.
--------------------
Dae-su Oh bangs his head right after stopping Mi-do from reading his diary. This "head banging" was not a scripted action. However Hye-jeong Kang (Mi-do) kept her cool and continued on with her lines. The director, in an interview, said that he kept and used this supposely NG scene for its comical and emotional value.
--------------------
The last scenes of the movie (with snow and footsteps) were filmed in New Zealand. After the ending credit completely rolls over, audiences can hear sound of the wind. It was actual sound of the wind recorded in NZ location. The director revealed in an interview that he was impressed by the scenary of NZ so much he saved the sound there for the (Korean) audience.
--------------------
This is the second film of director Chan-wook Park's "Revenge Trilogy". The first one is 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance'. The third one 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance' is in production as of December 2004 (Opens in Korea July 29, 2005). Incidentally, the very first speaking character in Oldboy who commits suicide with his dog and whose story we never hears, is played by actor Kwang-rok Oh. In the first one of the revenge trilogy Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Kwang-rok Oh played an anarchist character that appears at the very end of the movie. Kwang-rok Oh is the only credited character that appears in both movies.
--------------------
'Park-Chan Wook' wanted a documentary feel during the police station scene by using jump cutting. As a result, most of 'Choi Min-Sik' 's ad libbed lines were trimmed. The full ad libbed scenes are found on the UK Tartan DVD.
--------------------
According to the cast commentary, 'Choi Min-Sik' wanted the cameraman to follow his legs when playing with the toy wings. He was trying to do doing a "moonwalk" (originally done by Michael Jackson).
--------------------
The restaurant that Mido works in is called "Mediterranean", which is the name of the restaurant in real life, but the director originally intended for it to be called "Akira" - not as a reference to the popular Manga, but to the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.
--------------------
**MAJOR spoiler**
Despite the movie's depiction of graphic (but mostly offscreen) violence, only five characters die on screen (some of the prison guards Oh Dae Su beat up in the one-take corridor scene appeared at Mi-Do's apartment with Mr Park joining them): The suicidal man at the very beginning, Joo-hwan, Mr Han, Woo-jin Lee and his sister. The number of deaths in total offscreen and on screen might be higher due to Oh Dae Su's family murdered and the the prison guards who fought with Oh Dae Su in the one-take corridor scene who died of their injuries.
--------------------
Dae-su Oh bangs his head right after stopping Mi-do from reading his diary. This "head banging" was not a scripted action. However Hye-jeong Kang (Mi-do) kept her cool and continued on with her lines. The director, in an interview, said that he kept and used this supposely NG scene for its comical and emotional value.
--------------------
The last scenes of the movie (with snow and footsteps) were filmed in New Zealand. After the ending credit completely rolls over, audiences can hear sound of the wind. It was actual sound of the wind recorded in NZ location. The director revealed in an interview that he was impressed by the scenary of NZ so much he saved the sound there for the (Korean) audience.
--------------------
This is the second film of director Chan-wook Park's "Revenge Trilogy". The first one is 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance'. The third one 'Sympathy for Lady Vengeance' is in production as of December 2004 (Opens in Korea July 29, 2005). Incidentally, the very first speaking character in Oldboy who commits suicide with his dog and whose story we never hears, is played by actor Kwang-rok Oh. In the first one of the revenge trilogy Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Kwang-rok Oh played an anarchist character that appears at the very end of the movie. Kwang-rok Oh is the only credited character that appears in both movies.
--------------------
'Park-Chan Wook' wanted a documentary feel during the police station scene by using jump cutting. As a result, most of 'Choi Min-Sik' 's ad libbed lines were trimmed. The full ad libbed scenes are found on the UK Tartan DVD.
--------------------
According to the cast commentary, 'Choi Min-Sik' wanted the cameraman to follow his legs when playing with the toy wings. He was trying to do doing a "moonwalk" (originally done by Michael Jackson).
--------------------
The restaurant that Mido works in is called "Mediterranean", which is the name of the restaurant in real life, but the director originally intended for it to be called "Akira" - not as a reference to the popular Manga, but to the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa.
--------------------
**MAJOR spoiler**
Despite the movie's depiction of graphic (but mostly offscreen) violence, only five characters die on screen (some of the prison guards Oh Dae Su beat up in the one-take corridor scene appeared at Mi-Do's apartment with Mr Park joining them): The suicidal man at the very beginning, Joo-hwan, Mr Han, Woo-jin Lee and his sister. The number of deaths in total offscreen and on screen might be higher due to Oh Dae Su's family murdered and the the prison guards who fought with Oh Dae Su in the one-take corridor scene who died of their injuries.