Oldboy

Gotta say, I've got some sympathy with this review. I mean, the film is not ALL style over substance, but the substance IS pretty meagre. Listening to the interview clips on the DVD doesn't change that opinion. Chan-Wook talks about anger being taboo, but revenge not bringing satisfaction. Ah, the irony of injury making you inflict injury on others, I remember it well! Eye for an eye leaves us all blind, such a valuable pearl of wisdom!

More interesting and confusing is the whole incest business. In the pivotal voyeur scene, the hanky-panky throws up a handheld mirror. What is that about? Reflection? Detachment? Vanity? I'm gonna go for the latter. Bro and sis are obsessed with perfection. Perhaps that's why they don't stray beyond the bloodline. When their secret is revealed and their names muddied, the girl chooses death, the boy vengeance... gender, eh?

What of Oldboy's really grim final scene with his daughter / lover. On the DVD, Park answers questions from the audience, and has to address one woman who just didn't get that shit. Well, Oldboy's desire is just too strong for the relationship to stay paternal, Chan-Wook explains. Yuck. So he is allowed to forget. He may be a beast, but he still deserves to live a little, right? Umm...

So where's the masterpiece, I ask you? Oh, you mean the style of the thing? Point taken. On a purely sensory level, the film pummels . Yeh, the fight scene in the corridor, the zoom-out thru the chopsticks, the freaking octopus! Das sum craizy shit! But it leaves you with nothing but shudders when the credits roll. Thirst was a lot more purrty and sophistikaty, Imo. So, bigger and better things to come, one hopes...