No more has this been demonstrated by Park Chan Wook - an auteur so infatuated by the concept that he has created his own trilogy based around the concept. Whilst Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance are both fantastic titles in their own right (the latter being my personal favourite movie of the 'noughties' *as I am loathe to call them*) there is really only one film that truly personifies this aspect -
Oldboy (2003, Egg Films / Tartan Asia)
I do wish to mention here that there are spoilers for the film.
I should probably preface this review by stating that this was the film that spurred me onto my Masters degree, and the specific one that caused me to look at Asian cinema, in particular. Oldboy intrigues me on many levels.
First, and most notably, the concept of the 'time passage' is incredible. Oldboy is particularly Korean in what it chooses to showcase, immediately disctancing itself from a wider audience. The elections, the World Cup are shown, images that are particular to a Korean, rather than a Global audience.
How does a Western audience make sense of this? The World Trade Centre? Okay. Oldboy is not entirely Korean-specific in its intentions, but what it does do is highlight a trend in all of us.
Freud has explicitly linked the concept of Guilt to Revenge in the past, but what Oldboy does is play with this. The 'victim' is the guilty party, the enforcee an 'unlucky' overseer. Or is this the case? Oh Dae Sun immediately repeats what he saw to his audience, making him complicit in Woo-Jin's incest.
It's a difficult subject, on many levels, and one I don't feel Park particularly nails, despite the many visual 'wins' of this movie.
Woo-Jin's sister's suicide, in particular, is afforded no real sense of cinemnatic triumph, or importance. And indeed, when Oh Dae eventually cuts his own tongue out in a sense of catharsis, it is as 'matter of fact' as his initial eating of a live squid (something far more shocking to a Western audience)
So where does all of this leave Oldboy? It is technically accomplished, to be sure, but it seems to be lacking in that SOMETHING that creates 'GREAT' cinema. It is lacking in heart, and this is the great irony.
Park Chan Wook eventually created 'I'm A Cyborg...' a film about responding to the world in a robotic, non-natural way. Ultimately, in this film, he hit more upon human nature than in his own revenge trilogy.
Let Oldboy stand as a film triumph - a destruction of narrative, and of representation. But let's not forget that it does not represent the best of a film-maker's career. As The Departed is far more cinematic than Goodfellas, let's not expect that directors peak too early.
I think it's necessary that I see Oldboy as soon as possible, even if it's only so that I can read this post without being spoiled.
ReplyDeleteWell you're already at a bit of a disadvantage. However, this doesn not spoil the BIG BIT of Oldboy.
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ReplyDeleteSuperb article, and due to your discussion of it previously, I had to watch it.
ReplyDeleteBest film of the past 10 years.
Thanks, DS. Not sure about article. Does it read too negative? I love it. But it's not his best - have you seen Thirst? That's apparently where it's at. I adored Cyborg, however.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel it reads too negatively, it highlights every positive, and, rather than being a typical Park Chan Wook + Oldboy love in, you've actually highlighted a few of the flaws. Top work.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Thirst will finally be watched this week!
Damn it, didn't my reply post?
ReplyDelete:(
Oldboy is a superb film, but I've never understood why people rave about it so. Possibly because it is many peoples first encounter with Korean cinema, or foreign cinema at all?
ReplyDeleteIt's certainly one of the films you'll hear recommended with Donnie Darko and Fight Club, tot he point where it's easy to forget that it ever had any significance beyond being a 'cool film to watch when you start college'
Anyway, that's a different discussion.
Nice post as usual Mr RegMcH IFTHATSYOURREALNAME.
Yes, it really hit upon that early-mid 00s mind-twist phenomenon that seemed to resurface with films like Fight Club and Memento.
ReplyDeleteIt's also about as Western a Korean film as you'll get, so it kind of pulls back upon itself. That may be why it is such an easy film to first mention when discussing Korean cinema while other things such as (even Mr. Wook's) JSA are so different to us as we have no cultural connection.
I believe we've had this chat before, but you were right then and you are right now. I'm A Cyborg is a truly odd film. As a purveyor of anime (90% of it is awful)I tend to *get* East Asian output to a higher degree than my friends and family will often manage, but certain things are still 'foreign' to me.
ReplyDeleteOn that note, have you ever looked into Satoshi Kon? All of his work is brilliant and of a much higher quality than the usual anime rubbish. Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue come recommended.
I've watched Oldboy multiple times plus a other South Korean films as well as Japanese and Hong Kong films. (Plus French, Spanish, Italian, South American, Swedish etc)
ReplyDeleteI have to say, films like Oldboy get a lot of praise, and whilst I agree that it is a good film, having watched a number of foreign films, with the exception of some of Kurosawa's and Ozu's work, the majority of it is over-rated tat. I get the impression people like to champion foreign cinema simply because they like the "alternative" and want to say "up yours" to western cinema. The other point it is that some people like to use foreign cinema simply as a tool to simply look "deep/cool/edgey" etc, or to somehow validate their opinion.
I guess, at the end of the day, what I've learnt and have come to realise is that as good as stuff like Oldboy is, IMO it (and the vast majority of foreign cinema) simply ain't shit compared to the likes of Bogart, Brando, Kubrick and so on.