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Clip and reviews of OLDBOY from the director of SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE!!!
Hey folks, Harry here... This is a film that just sounds BRILLIANT! First it's from Chan-wook Park, out of South Korea, who is frankly the most exciting filmmaker working in the world today... well, for my money. He's like a late seventies Scorsese or an early to mid-seventies Friedkin... just at the top of a game that he seems to be inventing as he goes along. The two films of his that I've seen are JOINT SECURITY ZONE and SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE... Unfortunately, I've never seen either on the big screen because American Distributors just haven't discovered this guy yet. HOWEVER - when they do, when his films hit our screens and our dvd shelves commonly over here... you'll all see what the hubbub is about. There is nobody better for his genre right now. And from what we're hearing and seeing below... it looks like, he's topping his work again. Fucking Brilliant.
Harry,
I know you kinda dug SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE so you should get a kick out of this as well if you're not already aware of it. It's a music video / trailer hybrid thingee for Chan-wook Park's new film, OLDBOY. IIRC you've done a story about some time ago when it was first announced ...
All the shots in there are from the film and it looks just as visually stunning as SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE. No wonder the foreign rights to the film are selling for record amounts of money throughot Asia. Now all we need is for MiramAXE to pick up the US rights and release the cut-by-30-minutes US version with a pounding Hip Hop Soundtrack and Kung Fu Fightin' ...
If you use this, call me BUMBOY.If this review doesn't make you just die with anticipation... Better than SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE? The mind boggles. Here ya go...
Harry,
It didn't take long for word on Old Boy to spread. It certainly surprised me when the film was being toted as the most anticpiated movie in the second half of the year. For one, it seemed that whenever I brought up Old Boy in a conversation, no one else had any clue whatsoever as to what I was talking about, but the closer we came to November, and the more exposure the film got, the more people began to talk.
A few hours after opening, I was already beginning to hear from a friend that the film was fantastic. Given, I had already made it a priority to see Old Boy the next day as I had been the one to bring you news on its making a while back. I knew it was going to be a good film, didn't know if it was going to be a great film, and I'm still kind of confused on that part.
Old Boy, based on the Japanese manga, is a story about a man who is locked up in a room for 15 years. He does not know the reason, nor the length of his detainment. When he finally gets out, finding himself on the roof of an apartment, his journey for revenge begins. The story is not particularly complex, yet it does have its share of twists and turns, and thankfully, the surprises do not feel forced or as gimmicks.
Minsik Choi, who plays the protagonist gives his finest work here. The transformation of the main character, Daesoo, can actually be seen, and its also believable. There's a Kitano-like air to the post-prison [ for lack of a better word ] Daesoo, he calls himself "Monster" as he is a different person. Violence comes as a second nature to him, almost like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance's Dongjin. But while Dongjin was a cold-blooded animal, Daesoo is not. The whole film of Old Boy reeks style, but at a higher temperature than director Chanwook Park's previous attempts.
Which is what should be discussed moreso than the acting. It seems that although Joint Security Area JSA [ still my favorite ] was Park's breakthrough film, it still wasn't his particular forte. Old Boy shares similarities with Sympathy, as well as themes that again make one think of Kitano Takeshi. See, Park's films, [ as Seth Gecko would put it ] really stick it in and break it off. He thrusts his characters in these horrible situations, and things just don't get better. It's the same with Daesoo. He doesn't realize that the 15 year stay was better than what was waiting for him outside. And we the audience can only watch on in horror and witness what is left for the characters.
Old Boy is not an easy film to digest. There are scenes on screen that are not overdone but will touch the nerves of many a movie goer. It's certainly not the best Korean film of the year, [ Memory of Murder ] but Park has found his groove, and you just have to give the man props for having the stones to be able to make a picture like this. Even Hollywood doesn't make films like Old Boy anymore.
Kamata JunThen here's a couple of links to another two great reviews...
These are links regarding Park Chan Wook's latest film Old Boy. It's supposed to be an incredibly film and the guy talking about it in the first review knows what he's talking about.
Darcy Paquet is established in the South Korean film scene and would be an excellent Korean film correspondent for this website if he were up for it. I think he lives there and the website he runs (koreanfilm.org) is great. Anyway, reviews for this film so far are great. Just thought you'd like to know incase you haven't already heard.
ben
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Nov 23, 2003 3:27:37 AM CST
Harry, you gotta see NOWHERE TO HIDE, directed by Lee Myung-Se.
by cash bailey
After the opening scene you
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But I was wondering, has anyone seen Save the Green Planet? It looks very cool, but I really need some more opinions before buying it.
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I had a chance to see it in the cinema but it was only in for a limited time .....and i had to have the fucking flu that week did`nt i ....DAMMIT
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Excellent movie...although I went into it thinking it was a comedy. Not sure why, maybe the goofy cover/poster. The plot would lend itself very well to comedy, but besides a couple of really funny, bizarre moments the film is really dark. Very well done, though. Buy it.
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JSA was truly an excellent film; one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen, though. It's a worthy addition to any Asian film fanatic's collection. Old Boy looks like it just oozes style. Looking forward to it. However, my question: has anyone seen the Japanese film SUICIDE CLUB (Suicide Circle)? I watched it the other night and was just wondering if the ending was supposed to make sense at all, or just be some kind of abstract Lynchian conclusion...?
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this movie looks really great, but does anyone know the name to that song playing in the trailer. i like it allot
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Nov 23, 2003 5:20:26 PM CST
"American Distributors just haven't discovered this guy yet. HOW
by god of forkery
They'll remake his movies with some walking, talking sack of beef stew like Vin Diesel in the lead, and very quietly release the original once the remake hits video store shelves. No one will watch it, because subtitles "go too fast" or something like that. And anyway, Vin Diesel! He's awesome!
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Save the Green Planet is in many ways a much better film than Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. SFMV took itself too seriously and wasn't nearly as entertaining or as daring as STGP. Regardless of what Harry says, Jang Joon-Hwan, the director of STGP, is really the one to watch. If STGP, his debut film, is any indication, Jang Joon-Hwan will blow the lid off the Asian movie world.
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SAVE THE GREEN PLANET! is still my favorite film of the year. It's criminal that this site seems not terribly interested in it, as it's the sort of smart science fiction any self-respecting geek would eat up with a spoon. It's easily worth the (low) cost of a region-hackable player to watch it on, since it's not likely to get any sort of release here. Kicks the shit out of overrated (outside of Korea, anyway - Korean audiences knew better) garbage like the RESURRECTION OF THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, which, make no mistake, is simply a horrible film by any standard. JSA: JOINT SECURITY AREA is also a great film, though it gets off to a rocky start with a weak English-language segment that simply doesn't play well to an English-speaking audience. And guess what? MTV is still hacking up VOLCANO HIGH and sending it straight to basic cable. NOWHERE TO HIDE will indeed knock your dick in the dirt - the Wachowski brothers thought highly enough of it to, um, borrow very, very heavily from its finale for the end of MATRIX REVOLUTIONS. The Wachowski brothers denied they ever saw it, which is a load of crap, as anybody who's seen both films can tell you. Korean audiences were unamused, and there are rumblings of a lawsuit, which the NOWHERE TO HIDE producers have a real shot at winning - or at least getting a handsome out-of-court settlement. NOWHERE TO HIDE is best experienced in the uncut Korean version available on an imported, all-region Korean disc, but a cut, though subbed, version turns up on American movie channels from time to time.
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i dont think i have ever been so, thrilled, excited, moved, by any trailer i have ever seen..... i so desperated to see this movie OLD BOY that i have become incontinent!!!
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NOWHERE TO HIDE is truly a rock solid, insane Korean film. Anyone interested in Asian cinema should seek it out. It utilizes nearly every directing technique in the book. The kinetic visual style often makes KILL BILL seem tame in comparison. It's violent, uncompromising, and yes, even "inspired" the Wachowski Brothers. So much so that they lifted a scene from it (along with the climax of the Hong Kong actioner THE AVENGING FIST, if you ask me).
However, I just have to ask again - any of you Asian film buffs at AICN - have you seen SUICIDE CLUB (Suicide Circle)? I was just curious if the ending was supposed to make sense or just be some kind of nonsensical, Lynchian conclusion?
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Nov 25, 2003 3:39:52 AM CST
I haven't bpthered to see MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, but I might just h
by cash bailey
They really stole the ending, huh? Hell, I fully intend on stealing that opening scene in the rain when I'm making films.
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