Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
At the time, I did not realize what this film was. I watched it fascinated on Korean t.v. without English subtitles. I could not stop watching. The lush colors, sweeping scenes, bizarre interactions and sickly disturbing horror of this film kept me watching. I couldn’t look away, I was transfixed.
This film, the first in a bizarre trilogy by director Chan-wook Park, is well conceived and well told. Our hapless hero, the father, Park Dong-jin, comes to find that his daughter has been kidnapped. He goes to pay a ransom and everything goes downhill from there. In the end he takes on the role of Mr. Vengeance, he must do everything he can to claim his revenge against those who perpetrated the crime.
The horror of this film comes from how disturbingly accurate it is to the various little details that might come from the trauma of a kidnapping or the slaughter of ugly goons. You cannot shut out that people are dying, and that in their death the body is more distorted and hideous than one can imagine.
This tale of revenge is the first director Park’s work exploring the meaning of Vengeance. It is a daunting tale to try to top a film like this, however, after you have watched this definitely check out the second film in the trilogy, Old Boy.
For those wondering I believe that the revenge depicted in this film is “justifiable revenge”, unlike the revenge in Old Boy, which is more “redemptive revenge”. Take a look at the films and see what you think.
Added: Monday, February 27, 2006 Reviewer: Domkitten Score: Related Link: IMDB Details for Sympathy Hits: 3242
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