Monday, April 28, 2008

Oldboy (2004) R - 3 Stars

I don't know what it is about Korean subtitled movies they seem to be my favorite of the subtitles. Yes it's always a challenge to watch any subtitled movie for me, but the action is good and usually not something you have to read on the screen

Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is a normal family and business man in Seoul, Korea. One night after he was out drinking, he wakes up in a private jail like cell. For 15 years, no one tells him why he's there nor does he remember. In his fairly comfortable room, there is a television set. The only way he can tell what's going on in the outside world. He works out every morning to try and stay fit and aware.

As he is watching the television he hears reports that his wife has been murdered and he is the one being blamed as his blood was found at the scene of the crime. Dae-su realizes when he knocked out one night by gas, blood was taken from him to use just for this scenario. He uses a pair of chopsticks and begins the pain sacking task of digging out of his prison. He is determined to get out and find this enemy that has imprisoned and framed him.

Then without warning, he finds himself released on a roof top full of grass. He is given a large sum of cash and a cell phone but a homeless man on the street. He hooks up with an old friend Mido (Gang Hye-jeong) but he feels he can't even trust her anymore. After more clues, he meets a smooth talking man that tells him he has 5 days to discover who this enemy is and he will kill himself or if he can't, he will kill Mido. There is a gross part at the end.

2004 - Oldeuboi - Cannes Film Festival - Grand Prix.
2003 - Oldeuboi - Blue Dragon Film Awards - Best Actor.

Tartan Films
Director: Park Chan-wook
Writers: Park Chan-wook, Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Jun-hyeong
Producer: Kim Dong-ju
I viewed 10/06

1 comment:

Anil Usumezbas said...

Hello, and welcome to LAMB. I am #81 :)

I checked your blog for a while and I have one feedback to you that I think is important: Writing a review for a movie should not be summarizing it and placing the number of stars you have awarded to it at the end. That's called summary. When I'm reading a review, I like to see non-trivial approaches to the movie being observed, comparisons, reasons, explanations or whatever you see fit that contributes something to the review that I cannot see anywhere else.

I think the Oldboy review above is a little bit sloppy :) I know it's hard to be prolific when you try too hard to come up with quality material but I think you could sacrifice some of your productivity and focus more on longer, more original reviews.

I hope you will perceive this as a constructive criticism and will not be offended. If you have any similar feedback about my blog, I'd love to hear it as well. It's how we can improve.