08/11/06 Oldboy

Oldboy (2003), directed by Chan-Wook Park

watched solo; DVD rental (Netflix) @ car ride (from Meredithville, VA to Dumfries, VA); suggested by Jason

Finally, three things that I have been waiting for have decided to coincide on one beautiful afternoon travelling on the interstate. First, Leslie & I are leaving for our annual X-Country road trip to the great Northeast and to visit family (a much needed vacation from work). Second, I've been wanting to see this film ever since it was released Stateside last year...garnering much acclaim for its stunningly dark imagery and headcase of a test to the human will. And then third, this is now the first film in the Challenge to be tackled in the sub-category of "Side Bet" (see past posts) posed by my best friend and web-page guru Jason. I'm still not sold on the idea of completing this secondary challenge (although it does seem to hold a better consolation prize than the entire Challenge itself)...but this is one in the list of 13 films that I knew I wanted to catch anyway. So, without further ado...I give you "Oldboy." This intense thriller proves to be a wickedly devilish challenge of the human mind when forced to the brink of insanity, as only the extreme Asian cinema can provide. Those sadistic bastards. Here, upon a drunken night of celebration Dae-su is arrested and then quickly abducted, vanishing into the night. Dae-su awakens in a dilapidated room that he quickly learns to be some sort of furnished prison cell. Panicking from the confusion, Dae-su is never told of why he is imprisoned...suffering only the human guinea-pig experiments that his captors want to play on him. No matter what physical limitations they put on Dae-su, it is ultimately a mental and psychological hell that they have branded him with. It is in this miserable state that Dae-su is subjected to live out 15 years of his life in captivity, with only the t.v. to be his connection to the outside world. He begins a regimen of training himself physcially and mentally to prepare for his eventual escape...which to his disbelief, happens suddenly and with a little help from his captor. Nothing is explained, it simply happens...and so continues the freakish experiment on Dae-su as he is constantly observed from a distance to see what his actions will be. Coming to his aid is a lovely young woman by the name of Mido, and his long-lost best friend Joo-hwan...and his nemesis is revealed to be a face from his past. The reasons for his imprisonment and who is behind it all becomes slowly and methodically revealed to Dae-su, letting him into the deepest and darkest caverns of the human psyche. There are depths that no man should fall to, but Dae-su's captors make sure that he live them out endlessly. The story is so deep and layered, and extremely delicate of a woven fabric...which will all come unravelled in the end. I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say that it is bloody and bloody disturbing. I think the understated segments early in the film work best, and save for the over-the-top kind of expected ending...I was completely in love with this twisted flick. I think if it would have remained a bit more restrained in its trauma, I may have given it the highest rating...but alas, it messed with my head a bit too much. Still an incredible film that I highly recommend...not at all hard to fit into the Side Bet.

4 out of 5 stars