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Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Old Boy

REVIEW (K-movie)

What it is about

On his daughter's third birthday, Oh Daesu was abducted and locked up for 15 years. He didn't know who, he didn't know why. During the 15 years that he was imprisoned, he was set up for his wife's murder. But that's besides the point.

After the first couple of years, Daesu stopped wondering why he was imprisoned and started planning his escape. After years of hard labour, he finally made contact with the outside world by producing a small hole in the wall. One more month, and he would be able to dig his way out. Just when he thought he could escape, he was suddenly released.

On his first night, he came across a woman by the name of Mido. She was a sushi maker at the restaurant that Daesu dined in. After Daesu came down with influenza, Mido took him home.

Daesu's first task after he recovered was to find out who locked him up and take revenge. One thing led to another, eventually he found out who. Just as he was about to kill him, curiosity got the better of him. Daesu now wanted to find out why he was imprisoned. Killing his imprisoner will never find out the truth. He later found out that he and his imprisoner were from the same school. Upon arriving at his old school, Daesu realised a big secret. To complicate matters further, Mido was somehow related to it all.

Who was Daesu's imprisoner? Why was he locked up? What would he do now that he found out why?

What I think of it

Visually, it is a gruesome movie. Eating life octopus, pulling teeth out with a hammer, tongue cutting are the norm. The movie is definitely not for the faint hearted. It's violent. Very violent.

The plot is a twist with a twist. The first part of the movie concentrates on 'who', the second part deals with 'why'. The story is told like a detective story. The audiences don't get the know what the main character doesn't know. It keeps the viewers guessing until the end. And that's the strength of this movie. It keeps the audience hooked.

There are movies that build up the so much only to be let down by the ending. This movie is different. I would never thought of such an ending even after the big secret is revealed. To this end, the director did well in hiding the true ending.

The camera angle is refreshing, to say the least. Rather than setting the camera down to look from behind the character in a narrow corridor, the director chose to pick up the action from the cross-section of the corridor, such that the scene unfolds scrolling from left to right, much like a video game.

This movie is all about revenge. On the surface, it looks like to be Daesu's revenge on his imprisoner. But looking beyond that, it is actually his imprisoner who is seeking the revenge. A long time ago, Daesu's imprisoner has already been planning it. And to have the patience to carry out his plan over such a long time, such is the hatred towards one person.

Overall

This movie has violence, sex and gore. Pretty much everything an R-rated movie has. As a film, it has achieved many great things on many levels, especially with the live octopus (it's either that, or a very real-life like mechanical octapus). Watch it for the way in which the plot is carefully executed. It's a clever twist, but a disturbing plot.

To comment about this movie in one sentence, only a twist-minded person could write a twist story like this.

Score (out of 10)

Music: 6
Setting: 5
Character: 6
Plot: 7

Overall: 7

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