Oldboy (2003)

Review by Sean Patterson



"Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep, and you weep alone."

I'm nearly ready to declare Seoul the new Hollywood. Nearly all of the South Korean horror movies I've seen over the last year have been consistently entertaining, especially the monster movie classic The Host. Having now seen Oldboy, I'm convinced South Korean cinema is following a trajectory from horror, scifi, and revenge thrillers toward high drama and blockbuster hits.
Oldboy is the second in director Park Chan-wook's Vengeance Trilogy, and I'll definitely be reviewing the other two as soon as possible.
Oh Dae-su find himself trapped in a hotel room prison for 15 years for no apparent reason. His captors keep him docile by pumping in opium-laced gas. All he has for company is a small television. He is fed the same fried dumplings every single day. He gets himself into shape, practices fighting imaginary opponents drawn on the walls, and tries to dig his way out with a chopstick. Before he can escape he is unexpectedly released onto a rooftop in the city. He has a nice suit on and an expensive-looking watch.
Oldboy makes good use of surrealist imagery. For instance, when he first sees a woman after his imprisonment and he falls screaming down an elevator shaft. Or another scene where a character sees a man-sized ant riding a subway train. These sorts of things don't really happen, but it's clear those are the characters' thoughts.
Another way the movie lets you into Dae-su's head is through his internal monologue narration. I'm a fan of narration in movies. At least when it's done well. Fight club. The Shawshank Redemption. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It lends a literary quality. I don't understand why it's not used more often. Perhaps screenwriters see it as cheating, and maybe it is. But it's a shortcut that brings insight to the actor's performances. It also speeds up the exposition, which is sometimes necessary for a complicated story because a movie can only last so long.
Narration also makes movies incredibly quotable. Here's one of my favorites in Oldboy, just after Dae-su has been released and decides to pick a fight with some hoods to test out his heretofore imaginary fighting skills: "Dickshit. That's a new one. The television doesn't teach you curse words." He finds that his imaginary training has made him very capable of fighting.
Soon a stranger gives Dae-su a wallet with tons of money and a cell phone. He gets a phone call from a mysterious man who tells him to come back soon. He knows he was hypnotised while imprisoned, and he's afraid of what he might have been trained to do. Full of hatred and wanting answers, he, along with a female sushi chef he met, tries to find the same fried dumplings he ate for fifteen years by going to every resturaut in the city. When he begins to discover what was done to him, things get violent. I will point out, though, that the violence takes place mostly off-screen, Tarantino-style. People are tortured with Vivaldi's Four Seasons as the background music. Again, like narration, I find classical music to be a highly effective, yet underused, filmmaking tool.
Eventually Dae-su pieces together the mystery and I was left with my jaw hanging. I haven't been surprised and blindsided by a reveal this powerful since, well, ever. Lee Woo-Jin is one of the most sadistic villians I have ever seen on screen.
Along with the beautiful music, Oldboy is masterfully shot. The fight scene that takes place while panning down a narrow hallway is particularly spectacular. Add to that the good acting from every actor and the can't-miss story and plot, Oldboy is a modern revenge classic. Whoms revenge it is and what it cost is a mystery I implore you to discover for yourself. See Oldboy.