Oldboy is without a doubt my favorite South Korean film.
I actually became interested in this masterpiece after being exposed to Korean cinema via Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite and Yeon Sang-ho's Train to Busan. After watching those films I remember googling "best Korean movies" and that is how I found myself watching OldBoy in the middle of the night with my daughter and being enthralled by it.
It is without a doubt a movie that you'll never forget after you've watched it: it's shocking, mesmerizing, and leaves a bittersweet taste in your mouth.
The Plot
Oldboy is a 2003 South Korean neo-noir action thriller film, co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook. It's part of this director's thematic trilogy: The Vengeance Trilogy; which involves 3 movies in which vengeance drives the plot, these movies are completely independent of one another and thus, can be watched in any order. In my opinion, Oldboy is by far the strongest film in this trilogy.
This is the story of Oh Dae-su, a businessman who is kidnapped while he is drunk and wakes up inside a sealed hotel room. In said hotel room he is fed regularly and can even watch TV, however, he is not able to leave nor have any contact with the outside world, he is completely isolated and kept imprisoned for more than a decade, feeling as if he is starting to go insane as the years pass by.
He learns that a very powerful man has him locked in that room but he does not know who it is or why he is there, said man tells him via the phone that he has to remember, because it's someone whose grudge even goes as far as to lock Oh Dae-su in the hotel room as a punishment for something he did in the past.
He is imprisoned for 15 years until he is abruptly taken to the outside world once again. He planned his revenge while being locked inside the hotel room and is willing to do anything to not only discover once and for all why and by whom he was imprisoned, but also to make this mysterious man pay.
The Origins
This movie is based on Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi's Japanese comic of the same title.
However, although the premise is roughly the same, the film's director took so many liberties while writing the script, that it is impossible to call it an "adaptation", the main themes of the story being much darker in the film and even the main plot twist of the end when we are revealed the truth as to why the protagonist was imprisoned for so long is completely different in these two different versions.
The Performance of a Lifetime
"Laugh and the World Laughs with You. Weep and You Weep Alone"
Choi Min-sik gives an iconic performance as the main character of this film: ruthless, insane and tragic.
We are able to watch as this man spirals into insanity the further he goes into the rabbit hole, the more he learns about the truth, the more shocking and tragic his character gets. The final moments of this movie solidified his performance as one of the greatest I've ever seen.
Kang Hye-jung as Mi-do, Dae-su's love interest and main female character perfectly balances our protagonist, giving us a little bit of hope that this broken old man will be able to find happiness and live a normal life. She is young, sweet and likeable.
However, one of the other most memorable performances is the one of Yoo Ji-tae as Lee Woo-jin, our main villain. He is a psychopath that keeps you engaged on the screen every time he appears. He might be physically weak, but he is highly intelligent and has planned his revenge against our protagonist for a really long time.
The clash against the protagonist and this character kept me fascinated, their final showdown being one of the most iconic scenes of this movie.
This movie is considered a Cult Classic by many.
The cinematography is amazing, giving us many iconic scenes, one of the most impressive ones being the single-shot corridor fight scene that took 3 days to make. The director has a unique visual style, it's raw and the colors are bright, he also makes many choices that even now are quite bold, including hallucinations with insects and interestingly framed shots.
The final twist is shocking and earned, not feeling out of place and making you understand many things if you watch it a second time. This movie was so iconic it sparked a trend in the Korean cinema at the time, where most movies were revenge flicks.
The darker themes and imagery are so brutal and gory that I truly can't imagine this film being made in Hollywood, it's too raw, shocking, and unapologetic.
Hollywood actually made their own version of this film in 2013, a movie that pales in comparison to the original, I actually encourage you to never watch this newer version before the original one, as it spoils you the main twist but lacks the acting, direction, and writing that makes this scene so memorable.
You have to watch it at least once.
I've been continuously impressed by Korean cinema and this is a gem that I strongly encourage you to watch.
This film dives deeper into revenge and how it can break a person, the audience not only experiencing it through the protagonist but also the main antagonist. It's definitely a film that is not for everyone, it can be uncomfortable at times, especially if you are a sensitive person, however, I think it's a movie worth watching.
If you liked Parasite and are curious about other this country's cinema, you should definitely watch OldBoy.
It's a cult classic that never disappoints and one of the best films I've ever seen
