Film 39

Oldboy (2003)

Director: Park Chan-wook

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

What a film Oldboy is. This is one of the best protagonist-antagonist struggles I have seen in a long time.

The protagonist is Oh Dae-su. From the beginning of the film we see that he has quite a mouth on him, verbally lashing out seemingly at the drop of a hat. He is captured and imprisoned for 15 years, but he does not know why. After 15 years, he gets out and means to find out who imprisoned him and why, then exact revenge. Along the way he meets Mi-do, a young girl who aids Oh Dae-su in his quest, and eventually they fall in love.

Eventually, after some painstaking efforts, Oh Dae-su finds his answer...

The antagonist is Lee Woo-jin. Lee Woo-jin attended the same high school as Oh Dae-su. Lee Woo-jin loved his sister, Soo-ah, in an incestual way - she of course also attended the same high school. His sister loved him, too, and they tried to keep their love a secret. One day, however, Oh Dae-su caught them, and with that mouth of his began a rumor. This rumor lead to Soo-ah's decision to commit suicide. Lee Woo-jin must have his revenge. Some years after high school, after Soo-ah's death, Woo-jin becomes wealthy and is well-connected enough to have Oh Dae-su imprisoned and held captive for 15 years. He kills Oh Dae-su's wife and kidnaps his daughter, secretly raising her while Oh Dae-su is imprisoned. Through drugs and hypnosis, Woo-jin "programs" Dae-su and Mi-do to fall in love with each other, thus exacting a great revenge upon his nemesis.

In the chin-dropping climax, Dae-su learns all of this, and realizes that he is in love with his own daughter. At first he is furious, but then he begins begging Woo-jin not to tell Mi-do - he begs so doggedly that Woo-jin cannot contain his own laughter. He has done it - he has taken his revenge on Oh Dae-su. Ultimately, Dae-su cuts off his own tongue to show how serious he is, and Woo-jin decides not to tell Mi-do. This leaves Lee Woo-jin with such a feeling of accomplishment, yet he realizes that this is what he has lived his life for - now that it is over, he has nothing left. He has never loved another woman since his sister, and she is gone. Realizing all of this, Lee Woo-jin kills himself.

In the denouement, Oh Dae-su requests the help of the same hypnotist who hypnotized him during his imprisonment - he wants to forget what he has learned, so he can be with Mi-do. He pleads his case in writing since he cannot speak, and the hypnotist decides to help him - and it works.

*****

Wow. Folks, this is the sort of thing Shakespeare would write. Whatever your opinion about foreign films, this is a film with one hell of a plot which in my opinion is very well carried-out in both the acting and direction. Though I've pretty much outlined the plot in this review, it is still a great treat to see how it is the film gets there. A must-see.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 5/5. Excellent - a true tragedy.

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 5/5. A real pleasure to watch - great film quality and excellent angles and sequencing.

Overall Acting: 5/5. Each character was portrayed exactly as they seemed they should.

Score/Soundtrack: 5/5. The best way to get a 5 in this category is to work with the themes, which this film does very well.

OVERALL RATING: 5/5

~Fentablar~