Good Old Boy

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2005)

Thrillers often exist in a half-world of their own, with plot contrivances which serve no purpose other than to advance the plot to its conclusion. They rarely feel organic and thought out, existing for their own sake. "Oldboy," a Korean revenge thriller, is one of those rare gems in which every plot point is part of an overall whole, not only advancing the plot but doing so in a logical manner that also rings true emotionally. For doing so, it won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2004. Dae-Su Oh (Min-Sik Choi) is a ne'er-do-well, an alcoholic who cheats on his wife compulsively and while on an epic bender, spends his daughter's birthday raving in a police lockup. Bailed out by his friend No-Joo Hwan (Dae-Han Ji), he goes to a telephone booth to call his daughter - and disappears, leaving only his pathetic present of angel wings behind. He wakes up in what appears to be a seedy hotel room, imprisoned behind locked doors; he is fed and cared for, once in awhile after a sprightly tune is played over unseen speakers, he is gassed, and attendants clean him up as well as his room. 15 years pass. He learns that his wife has been murdered and fingerprints and bloodstains found at the scene have led the police to believe that he is the killer. His daughter has been adopted by Swedish foster parents. Even if he escapes, he would be a wanted man, hunted by the authorities, but escape consumes him. He needs to know why he has been imprisoned, and who has done this to him. He desperately tunnels out of his room with a stray chopstick, but just before he would escape from his run-down prison, he is released, left with his journals, a wallet filled with cash, a stylish suit and a cell phone. He eventually discovers that he has a time limit to find out the answers to his questions, or someone he loves will die. But the question he should be asking is not why was he imprisoned, but why was he released. The acting, while occasionally over-the-top, rings true in most cases. The love interest Mido (Hye-Jyong Kang) is lustrous and willing to sacrifice everything, even if she doesn't quite understand why. Oh's obsession and rage are well-played by Choi; while Western tastes would find his work un-subtle, there is an emotional realism to his performance. Director Chan-Wook Park wisely makes his hero extremely flawed, leaping to disastrous conclusions and more-or-less muddling through the puzzle more than anything. He occasionally gets into fights, but is no fighter; whenever he fights, he tends to get his rear end kicked as much as anything. Still, he soldiers on, his need for vengeance exceeding his common sense. When his questions finally do get answered, his whole world - and the audience's expectations - will get turned around on it's ear. This is definitely not for squeamish viewers. There are scenes of torture and mayhem that made me turn away from the screen. There are also many humorous vignettes, keeping the film from drowning in darkness. For anyone, this is an outstanding film that deserves mainstream attention. See the original before the American remake comes out in 2006; no doubt the storyline will be "Hollywood-ized" beyond all recognition.