Even though I'm no better than a beast, don't I have the right to live? (Old Boy [2003] (DVD))

Name: hogsflesh

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Product:	Old Boy [2003] (DVD)
Date:	03.04.05 (432 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful film which, shocks and delights in ways that, most modern films don't

Disadvantages: Some of the extras, on the DVD are a , bit superfluous

It's not often that I see a film that's so good it completely knocks my socks off. Oldboy is a revenge movie from South Korea. Released in 2003, it's made quite an impact here in the West, winning the Jury Grand Prize at Cannes last year (probably because of Quentin Tarantino - he's well known for liking his far Eastern cinema). Asian cinema is currently very much in vogue, and the Koreans are starting to offer serious competition to the Japanese. But while other recent Korean films like Foul King or Save the Green Planet are very good, they're a bit too strange to appeal to a mainstream audience. I don't see this being a problem with Oldboy. It should appeal to anyone who likes, say, Reservoir Dogs, or Fight Club. It's directed by Park Chan-wook, who's also made the acclaimed Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (which I haven't seen).

Oh Dae-su, an ordinary middle-aged man (albeit one who likes a drink and tends to get a bit aggressive) is kidnapped and imprisoned for 15 years by forces unknown. His wife is murdered and the crime pinned on him. After a few years of craziness (including some disturbing ant-related hallucinations) he pulls himself together - he trains his body so that he'll be able to take his revenge when he gets out, and starts trying to escape. Then, just as his years-long escape plan is finally coming to fruition, he is released with no explanation. Provided with money, clothes and a mobile phone, he has to track down the man who locked him up and, more importantly, figure out why. His desire for revenge struggles against his desire to find out the truth about what's happened to him - Oh Dae-su quickly finds out who is victimising him (clean-cut businessman Lee Woo-jin), but can't kill him until he finds out why. He meets a lonely young sushi waitress, Mido, who falls in love with him and helps him as best she can. Dark secrets are uncovered as the film heads towards its slightly shocking but completely satisfying denouement.

Oldboy is about as close to perfection as its possible to get. The story may sound a little hackneyed, but the way the plot unfolds is handled well, and you'll find yourself surprised at things that, in retrospect, are perfectly obvious. The pacing is perfect, the script superb (assuming the translation on the DVD is accurate). The art direction is exceptional, with some especially deranged wallpaper. Oh Dae-su's look, with his dark suit, crazy hair and lined face is spot-on. The photography is excellent, some of the best I've seen, and the lighting very inventive - certain shots are subtly infused with certain colours, and the use of shadow in the prison sequence effectively evokes the claustrophobia and dullness of being kept in the same room for 15 years with only a TV for company. The incidental music is also great, a combination of modern techno type stuff, newly-composed classical (including the catchy main theme) and old classical (Vivaldi is put to good use during a dental torture scene).

Above all, the direction is amazing: almost every shot is striking to look at, but without drawing attention to itself enough to derail the narrative. Oldboy has been accused of being all style and no substance, but I didn't find that personally - the style doesn't obscure the story in the way that it sometimes can in the work of more mannered directors like Kubrick. The cast is , without exception, superb. Choi Min-sik as Oh Dae-su is inevitably the most impressive, as he manages to be inconsiderate, violent and monstrously strange without ever losing the audience's sympathy. Yu Ji-tae as Lee Woo-jin is also excellent, allowing you to feel real sympathy for him while kind of hating him at the same time for what he's done to Oh Dae-su.

The film has a great streak of very black humour running through it, especially in Oh Dae-su's reactions to the outside world when first released (his inconsiderate behaviour to a suicidal man on a roof is hilarious, and with a great pay-off). This is essential, as ultimately what happens is pretty nasty on all kinds of levels. There is some pretty gruelling violence (the really horrifying moments take place just off camera, but the acting and sound effects convince you that you're seeing more than you are - the dental torture with clawhammer scene is particularly tough going). Other violence is less punishing; one fist fight, all shot in one long (2 mins 30) tracking shot is one of the funniest I've ever seen. And although the violence, when it comes, is often pretty nasty, this really isn't all that violent a film. The most visceral moment, and one that I was surprised to see on the UK DVD release, is a scene where Oh Dae-su eats a live octopus (this is apparently something that happens a lot in Korea). There are also a couple of moments of nudity and sex, but for once these are genuinely important to the plot (well, except maybe for one naked breast moment, but every film needs at least one gratuitous nipple shot, doesn't it?)

The DVD, from Tartan, has a lot of extras. A whole extra disc of them, in fact. Disc 1, along with the film, includes a short trailer and *three* full-length commentaries. The first has the director explaining the film and discussing aspects of making it. (I don't find those kinds of commentaries that interesting - most viewers will probably not need to be told how such-and-such a scene helps the story along, because they'll already have seen that for themselves. And a lot of his comments were slightly banal, along the lines of 'Ants are scary if they're covering your face'.) The second commentary has the director and the cinematographer (this focuses on how the film was lit and shot - I'm not hugely interested in the technical side of film-making, and didn't watch this in its entirety). The last features the director (again) and the three main cast members. This is a bit more entertaining, as they all laugh and joke with each other. The main problem is that there are three men and one woman doing the commentary, and I found it impossible to tell the male voices apart. Like the film, the commentaries are in Korean, with subtitles.

Disc 2 has a whole bunch of stuff. There are about 20 minutes of deleted scenes, with commentary explaining what they were and why they were cut - this is probably the best extra. There are lots of interviews - a long one with the director (it's longer than it needs to be, as he's being questioned in English, and an interpreter sits next to him translating everything he says - some skilful editing and use of subtitles could have meant this was half the length it is). Then there are more interviews with the director, a phone interview with the man who wrote the manga the film was based on, and short interviews with most of the cast (including some pretty small parts).

There are several making-of documentaries, dealing with issues like music, CGI effects and art direction. The main problem with the whole of disc 2, apart from the deleted scenes, is that it duplicates information that you can already get from the commentaries on disc 1. I'm all in favour of a good package of extras on a DVD, but only if they're actually worthwhile, and Tartan often seem to adopt a throw-in-everything-we-can-find approach to their Asia Extreme releases. Still, although I'll probably never watch disc 2 again, at least the DVD is the same price as Tartan's regular, one-disc releases (usually £19.99, although amazon or play are both a lot cheaper).

I doubt I've really got across what a good film Oldboy is. You'll just have to see it for yourself. A Hollywood remake is on the cards, allegedly starring Nicolas Cage (bad idea), so try to see the original before that, as I've no doubt that Hollywood will change the ending (and take out the octopus bit). It's all too rare that a contemporary film impresses me this much. Check it out.

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