giving Tatantino a run for his money

Rating: 9/10 (17 December 2004)

Amazing film. I visited Korea for the first time this year. As the country, Korean films are different from what you have seen and what you have experienced from a Western perspective. This movie has a subject that starts like a Kafka story of an individual facing an unknown repressive machine, but turns quickly in a sordid and personal revenge run that would be worth of the hand of Tarantino. I am sorry to use Western cultural references, but this is the best way to describe my impressions. There is actually much more deepness, a troubling, shocking but yet so human story beyond the action story line. There are tons of graphic violence and some sex, but they did not seem shocking to me because they were very much in the logic of the story. Acting is superb, and the story line, including the ending is perfectly logic. I am hearing that Hollywood intents to do a re-make and I fear the results. But maybe they can convince Tarantino himself to do it! One of the best films of the year to end, 9 out of 10 on my personal scale.