Where to start would be a very good question. The cover of Old Boy displays a young man and an aged one. I took this to assume this would be some sort of Korean Mafia film with the young replacing the new, and there being a power struggle.
Yeah right! This film is as far from that as South Park is from The Last Samurai. It’s going to be so difficult to not give away the plot, or to discuss what the topic the film covers is. It’s so diabolically canny that although I understood some of it, and got the shock, I was not expecting the end. I think some people may say that I’m naive, but I swear, the film covered it’s tracks so well that I only got the twisted, sick ending when they showed it. This is no surprise I guess, as the film is by upcoming Korean genius Park Chan-Wook, of JSA and Sympathy for Mr Vengeance fame (the latter one of my all time favourite films).
One night a drunk is taken in by the Police and held there for most of the night. The drunk in question is called Oh Daesu. After flailing around, acting drunk, trying to piss inside the station walls, and trying to harass the other “visitors”, his friend agrees to pick him up from the Police station.
Upon leaving, Oh Daesu decides to call home and let his daughter know that he bought her a present and would be bringing it home, in his drunken state. His friends wants to talk to the daughter and the wife just to ensure that they know that Oh Daesu is coming home. As the friend talks on the phone Daesu wanders off and then disappears as the friend looks back to find he is no where to be seen. Cut to the shot of the present on the pavement, and a man with an umbrella walking away.
A warning before you decide to venture yourself to view this brilliant film. It is absolutely important that you only watch this film if you’re open minded
We discover that Daesu has been locked in a room, which looks like a normal room. It’s furnished, has a bathroom, a television, bed and window of sorts; it has a painted view of a hill. Daesu has been locked for three months before he starts to lose his mind, and his ability to cope. Over time, he starts to write about everything he has done in his life, most of which has been sinning, and discusses everyone he has hurt or fought with.
Months turn into years, and as the years pass Daesu is still kept in that room, never let out. As he grows facial hair, and the hair on his head starts to grow, he begins to resemble a yeti in common clothes. When his hair grows to such a stage, he is sedated through a Valium gas, and then shaved, cleaned and dressed to look “normal” again. He keeps count of the time that passes by using the television. It just so happens he also discovers that he is wanted for the murder of his wife. Obviously a frame, as he has been lock up for months in the “prison”.
As time passes, he creates a make shit needle from some wire, dabs it in ink and tattoos himself by sewing a line on to the back of his hand for every year that has passed. As the years continue to drift by, he decides to make the most of what he has and begins to prepare himself for the one day, whenever that day is, when he is released; prepare to find the person who put him in the prison, and to exact his revenge. Daesu starts to tone himself up, and starts practicing to fight in the room with a makeshift dummy drawn on the wall. He continues to self mutilate and satisifes his desires as man by relieving himself at the sight of female singers on the TV. It’s both amusing and tragic.
Fifteen years pass for Daesu until he is knocked out again, hypnotised and then released on what looks like a field. It is in fact a patch of grass on the top of a high building. Daesu has been locked in a suitcase and left there. As he kicks his way out, having seen sunlight for the first time in 15 years, he sees a man, another human, who he has not seen for 15 years. The man in question just happens to be ready to commit suicide, until Daesu grabs him in time to tell ask him to listen to his story before he jumps. The story of how his wife had been killed, and he had been locked up in a prison made to look like a room for 15 years without seeing another human, or seeing the outside world. After Daesu leaves, the sucidee wants to tell his story, but Daesu has little interest in it.
As Daesu discovers the world he has not seen for so long, he makes his way to a sushi bar, where he orders something “alive”. During this time he gets a phone call, and the voice of the person that has kept comes down the line, he provides a riddle and then ends the conversation. Daesu grabs the squid, which is still wriggling around, and proceeds to devour it in full view of the girl serving it. She touches his hand, he faints and finds himself in her room. The girl’s name is Mido, and as she reads and learns about Daesu’s past, she decides to help him.
What follows his a mixture of brutal violence and human drama. A tragedy of a man is trying to find out why someone would lock him up for 15 years and then release him without reason. To kill his wife, and try to rid him of his past, only to make him discover the past again, in order to find the answer as to why he was locked up, and why he was released.
Music also deserves a mention, as it both goes with the flow of the film and sometimes, creepily goes against the on screen events
I call the violence brutal, but it isn’t that much. Some of it is well choreographed, whereas other parts aren’t, and some of it doesn’t look to real. I think that was the intention though, particularly with one ambitious fight where he takes on about 20 people with all sorts of weapons, and he is only armed with a small hammer. A hammer he used to wrench out the teeth of a person who owned and monitored the building where Daesu was locked up. Refusing to give the clients details, Daesu decides to remove 15 teeth, one for each year he was locked up. He then fights his way out of the building.
The first half, or first two thirds of the film are very bleak indeed. The film lacks any real humour, and it’s very depressive, even the colour seems a touch monotone, even with the awful psychedelic-esque rooms that are viewed during the film. It’s a very harsh way of filming, and Daesu’s is always grimacing with a pure hatred and frustration. During the course of the film, he and Mido fall in love, and make love, becoming closer. At one point he suspects Mido is part of this conspiracy of locking him up, but is then told she will die if he doesn’t find out the truth in three days by the guy who locked him up. I guess I didn’t mention that Daesu meets his keeper within the first hour of the movie, and is tricked in to not exacting his revenge. There are many original twists, turns and plot developments in a film that treats revenge like a chess game.
The last half, or last third of the film is where things become incredibly dark, very different, and give new meaning to the terms, “WHAT THE FUCK?”. We discover the reason why Daesu was locked up, or at least sort of do. It’s quite a shocker, and it’s also immoral. Not on the part of Daesu, but on the part of the person that locked him up. As the revelation plays out, the film starts to take an even more twisted turn, and shocks the viewer with an unexpected outcome of Daesu’s journey so far. I raise my hands when I say I did not expect this end, and if you read this review, then it makes it a little easier for you as the reader, because now you’ll be looking for clues as to what the story is, and what the twist is. If you watch it, without trying to look for anything, it will shock you as it did me.
Of course it’s only a film, and I had no clue that it would deal with such a topic. As I said, I thought it was a gangster flick, and boy was a I wrong. So wrong it would be like calling Venus a pebble in the Atlantic. There may be one, I don’t know. The revenge and counter revenge is astonishingly well handled for a topic that is so outrageous that I had no idea that was the whole plot for the film. It’s the sort of topic you don’t discuss openly, unless you’re open minded about discussing it. People who do it, are considered sick and diabolical, and perhaps rightly so. I can’t judge since I haven’t been around that sort of thing before. It wasn’t the topic that shocked me, it was the way it came about in the story, and the twist. It was absolutely fucking grade A story telling.
The production values for this film are quite high, with glossy film, tints, flashbacks, some Cronenberg-esque special effects moments, and scale of the film. It’s two hours long, but if feels much longer. I sometimes find this to be a bad thing, but I guess it’s a testament to the excellence and pace of the direction that it felt like this, because I did enjoy every minute of this film.
What I admire about this film above all else is its taste in handling the subject matter. It isn’t done in a shocking manner, instead it is dealt delicately and beautifully, for a subject that is potently taboo. Films like Ichi the Killer and Visitor Q are entertaining, but comical and deal with the issues in an extreme and ludicrous manner. In some regards you could say the same for Old Boy, but I would argue that it’s pretty convincing as a piece of film, and nothing in the film could not be done for real. Not that it would happen, by that token it is a little off the wall and fantastical, but equally it doesn’t take you away from the suggestion that all of this is actually happening to someone. Empathy is felt for the character, and as the viewer, you have to ask yourself, can you still feel empathy for this person, after you discover what he has done, not knowing he was doing this. It’s brilliant conundrum, and a difficult one to fathom.
Months turn into years, and as the years pass Daesu is still kept in that room, never let out
Music also deserves a mention, as it both goes with the flow of the film and sometimes, creepily goes against the on screen events. There are times you have to wonder whether or not the music is appropriate for what is happening, but it’s that creepiness and the uncomfortable delicacy of the music against the tragedy that befalls the viewer that works so well. It’s brilliantly done, and adds to the tragic occurences of what is to come, and what will be.
The acting is great throughout, and with everyone playing their parts brilliantly. From revenge and anger, to horror and diabolical madness, it’s all demonstrated convincingly, and also horrifically. There are moments where the violence is suggestively extreme, with the aftermath of the effects of the inflicted violence being subtle but devastating. Had there been a flow in the main performances, then I don’t think this film could have pulled off what it did with such aplomb. I am slightly unsure about the ending, and haven’t quite decided whether or not I like it. It’s odd to say the least, and I’m not quite sure what the answer was. Perhaps I’ll figure it out as I think it over for a little longer.
A warning before you decide to venture yourself to view this brilliant film. It is absolutely important that you only watch this film if you’re open minded. Now as I said, the topic didn’t shock me, nor did the events, but it may shock someone who isn’t keen to delve into topics that they mind find sick, repulsive and offensive. Those of a religious, sensitive or politically correct disposition would find this film hard to watch and would no doubt wish it to be burnt to a cinder. Those with an open mind will accept the topic, how it is dealt with and enjoy the film for what it is: a film.
Verdict: Intelligent, tasteful handling of a sensitive topic in a well crafted masterpiece. Stunning and shocking in equal measure.