Oldboy

Oldboy (Oldeuboi) (2003)

Runtime: 120 minutes

Directed by: Park Chan-Wook

Starring: A number of actors I wish I could have seen in something I could have enjoyed

From: A few Korean companies

You know, Park Chan-Wook is just not for me. I realize most will vehemently disagree w/ my opinion but I can't and won't lie to everyone that follows me.

There is an entire backstory to why I finally saw this movie when my opinion on Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance were rather low; I'll just say that both of those had ugly repulsive stories that not only repelled me, they had nonsense plots. About a month ago, a mutual on Letterboxd asked me to finally see Oldboy-I agreed as I did not want to be a jerk about it... their name won't be revealed as my not loving this will surely be disappointing to them. When I made that promise, it was before I realized that this was now not on any streaming platforms in the United States for some reason. Thus, I had to track it down less than ethically...

I cannot complain about the general filmmaking, from either behind or in front of the camera; in fact, I wish this cast would have been in a movie I actually enjoyed. But not even the nice action can make me enjoy something when the story is so repugnant and gross and something that revels in being nauseating and having “shocking” moments. Yes, I realize it's from a manga but it's right in the director's wheelhouse. The plot was not as much nonsense as in the Vengeance movies... of course it's entirely implausible but at least I could follow along with what was going on. I don't have to wonder about what those that identify as female may think of this... as one mutual has a negative opinion on it too, although for different reasons than I do.

Those that love the work of Wook, I get it; it's just a shame that this will forever be a mystery to me. There's many thousands of films that are more to my tastes so it's A-OK if I avoid directors that have a controversial past, directors that direct their actors to be monotone robots, directors that actively try to piss off the general audience with their product, or directors that are pretentious asshats, or directors that make motion pictures which just have the stench of smugness to them. For comparison's sake, I Saw the Devil is about as “extreme” as I get when it comes to Korean cinema. Also, I prefer motion pictures which don't involve a live octopus being eaten; blech!