Oldboy made a pretty big splash at Cannes a few years ago. The top prize went to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, but with Bush out of office, that documentary has become somewhat dated while Oldboy remains timeless, which is why you're still seeing it on movie downloads queues while Moore's film has gone somewhat under the radar.
The story follows Oh Daesu, a man who simply disappears from the street one night. He wakes up in a room that's half prison cell half motel room. He's trapped here for fifteen years, and he spends his time training his body and mind in order to take revenge on whoever's responsible for putting him here. He attempts to use a metal chopstick to carve through the wall and escape to freedom, and what happens from there is certainly an unpredictable story as far as thrillers go.
The film is really an interesting look into the concept of revenge. The movie is full of questions. Who's really taking revenge on whom? Is Oh Daesu really the hero of the film? The theme of revenge saturates the film and all of its characters, and while the film begins as standard action revenge fare, it quickly develops into something deeper and far less predictable.
Oh Daesu is a fascinating character. We've all seen Dirty Harry and Arnold Schwarzenegger take revenge, but they always have a moral conscience to guide them. Daesu is a man who wants revenge, and will literally stop at absolutely nothing to exact it. It's incredible to see just how far he's truly willing to go to achieve this end.
The movie was directed by Chan Wook Park. He directed the film immediately after another revenge flick, Sympathy for Mister Vengeance, and was asked by an interviewer "How long are you going to keep making revenge films?!" He actually took the question as something of a criticism, and half jokingly responded "I'm making a trilogy!" He wound up living up to that though, and while the third, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, doesn't quite match the first two, it's still worth a watch.
Interestingly, Chan Wook Park wrote the entire screenplay in only two days, having written the outline in "a single cigarette", he says. He took a few weeks on a second draft, but it's interesting to know that it only took two days to get the first draft out, considering how complex and twisted the film is, while still making perfect sense when you have all the facts.
It's really more than just another thriller, more than just an action revenge flick. It's really a unique beast all its own.
Chan Wook Park recently came out with a vampire film, and this wasn't his debut, but it was certainly the film that put him on the world cinematic map. Quentin Tarantino considers it one of the greatest films of the last twenty years, and you might just find yourself agreeing.
The story follows Oh Daesu, a man who simply disappears from the street one night. He wakes up in a room that's half prison cell half motel room. He's trapped here for fifteen years, and he spends his time training his body and mind in order to take revenge on whoever's responsible for putting him here. He attempts to use a metal chopstick to carve through the wall and escape to freedom, and what happens from there is certainly an unpredictable story as far as thrillers go.
The film is really an interesting look into the concept of revenge. The movie is full of questions. Who's really taking revenge on whom? Is Oh Daesu really the hero of the film? The theme of revenge saturates the film and all of its characters, and while the film begins as standard action revenge fare, it quickly develops into something deeper and far less predictable.
Oh Daesu is a fascinating character. We've all seen Dirty Harry and Arnold Schwarzenegger take revenge, but they always have a moral conscience to guide them. Daesu is a man who wants revenge, and will literally stop at absolutely nothing to exact it. It's incredible to see just how far he's truly willing to go to achieve this end.
The movie was directed by Chan Wook Park. He directed the film immediately after another revenge flick, Sympathy for Mister Vengeance, and was asked by an interviewer "How long are you going to keep making revenge films?!" He actually took the question as something of a criticism, and half jokingly responded "I'm making a trilogy!" He wound up living up to that though, and while the third, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, doesn't quite match the first two, it's still worth a watch.
Interestingly, Chan Wook Park wrote the entire screenplay in only two days, having written the outline in "a single cigarette", he says. He took a few weeks on a second draft, but it's interesting to know that it only took two days to get the first draft out, considering how complex and twisted the film is, while still making perfect sense when you have all the facts.
It's really more than just another thriller, more than just an action revenge flick. It's really a unique beast all its own.
Chan Wook Park recently came out with a vampire film, and this wasn't his debut, but it was certainly the film that put him on the world cinematic map. Quentin Tarantino considers it one of the greatest films of the last twenty years, and you might just find yourself agreeing.
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A podcast client is a small program that goesonline to look for the RSS files that the feed subscriberswish to view. Movies Downloadable Amongst the many legendary stalwarts, Jimi Hendrix undoubtedly tops the list of profiles of famous guitarists. While many have the inborn talent to make it big some may have to work hard to polish it.
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