not bad... not bad at all

Rating: 8/10 (16 November 2005)

I saw this movie last night on DVD with English subtitles. I watched it with some native Korean friends. They say it's a very well-known and liked movie in South Korea.
Plain and simple, this is a good movie. It would not have won or been nominated for so many awards if it were not a better than average flick. I was convincingly taken to a time and place outside of my own life for more than an hour; i.e. I was entertained. If you like foreign flicks, and especially Asian-made action/drama/intrigue films (or intrigue films in general), I'd say you have a very good chance of liking this movie. It starts out funny... and becomes dark and a bit drastic and dense, but still has nuggets of humor (some darkly hilarious, example: the last time you see the little white dog) in the last 2/3rds of the film. It's a love story (with a twist) that's not overly sappy, and a revenge story that's not contrived. The pace is good--not too fast and definitely not slow.
Those who have said the ending is stupid haven't seen many Asian or other foreign films (and don't know anything about Asian culture and ethics). Although there have been shifts away from the old mode in the last decade or so, most American films still end with everybody hunky-dory. Hey, Scooby-Doo rocks (especially sans-Scrappy), but I don't want all of my 'moviewing' to end with a rosy "Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" This does not. The protagonist isn't perfect, and ultimately pays for his 'sins.' The scene toward the end with his grovelling may seem over-the-top cheezy and silly to many Americans, but to my Korean friends, his behavior is a little funny but powerfully "that's a bummer, dude." He's sacrificing his honor as a man by becoming a ridiculous pleading animal (what works there, hey this isn't Topeka or Orange County) in order to absolutely ensure his love isn't scarred in the way he and his enemy and his enemy's sister have been.
To those who say the movie sucks because you don't quite know what is happening or what is going to happen... ever see "Donnie Darko" or "The Game"? Did you think those sucked? No. So free your mind. Koreans say beer or soju or vodka goes well with movies, especially dark ones; maybe this isn't bad advice for you.
The acting isn't poor and the cinematography is good. There's a lot of parallel imagery if you look for it. For example, the penthouse apartment has a narrow walkway surrounded by green-lit pools of water, which is a reference to the fateful dam and the green river below.
Also, to get deep for a few seconds... the protagonist is trapped for 15 years in a room. But, the closed-circuit TV operator (metal-mouth) is also shut away in his room, day after day. Just because this flunkie's door is unlocked doesn't mean he is any less a prisoner. The 'bad guy' is also partially trapped in his high-security penthouse and conttant bodyguard companionship, shut away from the world. The 'life as a prison' theme is found throughout the movie. It's meant to be cathartic.
I give it an 8 out of 10. Go rent and watch it some late Saturday night with a few friends. If you've never seen a Korean movie before, this wouldn't be a bad place to start (unless you're 8 and innocent or 88 and squeamish).