Old Boy

Chan-Wook Park, South Korea, 2003, 120 minutes

On a rainy night in Seoul, a petulant drunkard named Dae-Su is abducted off the streets by a group of gangsters. They operate a private prison, and 15 years of solitary incarceration await him courtesy of an unknown individual who has also framed Dae-Su for the murder of his wife. On release, our protagonist has just five days to discover who is responsible for his torment, yet more importantly why.

From the wondrously talented mind of Korean dark maestro Park Chan-Wook comes the ultimate revenge thriller; a breathtaking, claustrophobic nightmare that won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and is fast becoming a global phenomenon. Park’s film has been greeted with the widest release to date in the UK, and can certainly be regarded as a breakthrough. Superlative acting and a pulsating score compliment the arresting imagery, whilst the true astuteness of the script will reward only on further viewings. Not as blisteringly nihilistic as the director’s previous work, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, this film is far more accessible and frenetic.

Resonating with themes of paranoia and the declination of the human spirit - Old Boy is a brutal classic of the modern age. It will not win the plaudits of everyone, as for every other scene of scintillating artistry comes a moment of gut-wrenching excess. Dae-Su returns to the outside world a broken man, a vagrant who will repel twenty men with a claw hammer or eat a live octopus (in the most infamous scene) without any hesitation. The manic quirkiness and genial camera-work will remain in the memory - yet the true highlight comes in the uncompromising resolution. Cinematic in the extreme, the movie also has a emotional core that will leave some viewers stunned, yet others disgusted.

Review by Chay Williamson
Written for EUFS Programme Spring 2004