Library Rental Film Review: OldBoy
Because most of us are poor and because this was an idea for a column I was going to put in a zine, I decided I’d post it up here on my blog and see how it goes. Hey, at least it’ll get me to write. So here is the first installment of films I checked out at the library poorly reviewed by me, Miranda Rae.
Sometimes I question whether a film is good simply because it was shocking and makes your stomach turn. Oldboy is one of those films. An intense revenge film directed and written by Park Chan-wook, I came to the conclusion that yes, although brutal, it was a good film. The story goes like this: Oh Dae-su, a fat alcoholic father of one is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years for seemingly no reason. Upon his release he is thrown into a cat and mouse game to find out who imprisoned him and along for the ride is a beautiful sushi chef whom he falls in love with.
While watching the film I had to question what kind of world we were in. Was it completely dystopian where everything is dark and miserable? Too miserable to notice something strange like a man being locked up for 15 years and no one making a peep? Of course a story like this could only happen in a world like this, you think; but with such strong characters and the way the story eventually tied together you felt as though, yes, this could happen. This feels very real. And therein lies why the film was quite painful to watch. Trust me, I’m the first to laugh at horror films even the ones where people say it’ll legitimately make you jump out of your seat. But there was nothing funny about a man striking down a hoard of thugs with a hammer, pulling out teeth and then cutting your own tongue out. Nope, it got real.
Once I met Oh Dae-Su’s captor, Yu Ji-tae, I also had to question why he looked so young. What could this young man have against Oh Dae Su? Did he steal his candy away? You could tell he was much younger. I thought to myself, what a poor casting choice. Eventually, it didn’t make it anymore surreal for me. It became understandable that a man held captive for 15 years would age considerably and that Yu Ji-tae, having enough cash to imprison someone for so long would have the means to take care of himself. Adding to that, possibly have peace of mind torturing someone.
All in all, Oldboy was extremely powerful. I am always torn about whether gore and violence are necessary to tell the story but in this case, it totally served a purpose. Hollywood thrillers and scare films should take note. The only thing I’m wondering about now is this film was part II in a vengeance trilogy. So if this is part two, how awful will it be to watch part III and how less awful is part I?
