Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Oldboy



Oldboy is a Korean film released in 2004 which shot to fame when it was awarded the Grand Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.


This movie just blew my mind. Indian film buffs may know this as the movie on which the Sajay Dutt - John Abraham starrer 'Zinda' was based. In fact, the makers of Zinda were later sued by the makers of 'Oldboy' for copyright infringement. Makes you wish the international film industries would take closer looks at many more of our movies - getting sued for stealing other people's ideas is a known incentive for originality!

But just forget about Zinda, even though it was a fairly competent remake (authorized or not). The original is in a class by itself. There is violence in this story, sometimes very much in its gory, physical form. But more often the violence is all in the mind - and that is perhaps more brutal. Oldboy is based on a Japanese manga of the same name. There is though nothing comic about this movie. This movie is part of The Vengeance Trilogy, three films made by the director Park Chan-wook, all of which center around the idea of revenge. I feel some of Quentin Tarantino's sequences from the Kill Bill movies may well have been inspired by this movie. Quentin is known to be a huge fan of 'Oldboy' and was actually the head of the Cannes Festival jury which awarded the Grand Prix to this movie in 2004, which is the second most prestigious award at the Cannes Fest. Quentin failed to persuade the jury to give it the Palme D'Or instead, which went that year to 'Fahrenheit 9/11'.
The movie begins with Oh Daesu (Choi Min-Sik) who has been picked up by the cops for being drunk as a skunk. He comes across as a bit of a mischief-maker and definitely cant hold his drink. His friend finally gets him out of police custody, but Oh Daesu vanishes from the face of the earth before he can get home to his wife and daughter. He is kidnapped and held in a prison of-sorts, where he is kept for 15 years, without even being told why he is being kept there or who is responsible for his incarceration. Oh Daesu spends the time wondering what he could have ever done so wrong as to deserve the punishment he seems to be getting. And also planning revenge on his tormentor. Then suddenly one day, he is free. All he needs to do now, is figure out who was responsible for his 15 year sentence, and why!



As I mentioned before, there is violence. Gritty, raw, savage violence which seems too uncomfortably real. There are twists in this story that are quite shocking and surprising. Its one of the most inventive thrillers i have ever seen, besides being one of those rare films which stay in your minds long after its over. Perhaps the original manga has all the twists in it already, or maybe the director and writers got together and brainstormed this brilliance out - i dont know. But the movie is definitely one of the most powerful depictions of the brutality that humans are capable of. The movie seems to really begin only after Daesu has been set free. He now has a single mission, to find out why and by who he had been imprisoned. But as the viewer gradually finds out, things are just not what they seem. The director forces you to reconsider your initial perceptions at various stages of the movie.

There are so many sequences in the movie which grab you by the throat. This film demands attention, and earns it. A sequence where Daesu single-handedly takes on about 30 of his erstwhile captors, may sound like the run-of-the-mill action thriller scene, where the super-invincible Rambo-like hero takes on much more than a normal person would be capable of. But here, this scene changes into something much more basic, primordial. Imagine a lone wolf surrounded by a gaggle of hyenas. The wolf may be hurt badly, but its fierceness may still give it an edge over the hyenas.

This is definitely a movie for the strong hearted. But its also a movie so original, and makes such a powerful statement about the beastliness of humanity, that it deserves a much larger audience. In addition, there are performances in this movie which blow the mind away.

There are few movies which deserve 5 stars, Oldboy definitely gets 4.5 stars from me. I take away the half star for the final clash between Oh Daesu and his tormentor which, only in hindsight, feels like a bit of a compromise.

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