Critic vs. ?

Rating: 9/10 (6 April 2006)

Oldboy is not for everyone. For those of us that have seen it, it's extreme in every sense, including talent and direction. Being loosely based on a popular Japanese manga, the film evolves into something completely else as the movie progresses both in time and content. The opening scene is Dae-su holding a depressed and deranged man by the tie on the roof of some tall apartment building, however the story doesn't actually start from there, the film shows us the progression of Dae-su's character up to that point in a believable manner. Granted, the time changes are not like say, 21 Grams but definitely pace back and forth through stylish editing but more importantly the progression of the potential mystery. Chan Park uses his choice of wide shots, as well as extreme closeups, unusual but impressive angle choices, some of which are obscure. And he pays an awful amount of attention to color schemes and set design. Lighting is far beyond most Hollywood films and his mastery of tone control for the movie is excellent. And the acting is simply amazing.
That said, the film is not perfect. It will never be part of Time Magazine's top 100 films but there are no obvious directorial flaws in it. If one suggests a disapproval, that is exactly what it is, a difference of opinion. Chan Wook Park has style, it's just a matter of whether that will float your boat or whatever, sink it. The last reviewer described the film as being a waste of time and tried to point out what were apparently close connections to Ichi the Killer. Well, I couldn't disagree with you more, Miike is an exhibitionist and nothing more, his films never peak past interesting. Miike also makes sometimes several films a year, none of which show any growth, all proving to reflect very little style. Where Chan Wook Park tells you a story with obvious character development (mind you, he does it with stylish techniques), Miike wants to disturb you like a bully, never really working out more than a sigh from me and I can only assume that a real film critic would agree. There are stylish directors out there that I won't fanboy myself over but can respect, Tony Scott and maybe ever Gasper Noe (probably not), but their style is all integrated into storytelling, Miike never does and probably never will...it's quite obvious whose film was the best in the Three Extremes. I promise you folks, don't pick up Oldboy, that is not what I am saying...what I suggest is you rent it immediately if you want to see something vividly entertaining, stylish and good.
To the last article writer: You don't know diddly-skeet about Korean cinema.