Welcome to Korea !!

Rating: 9/10 (16 August 2004)

This movie is very hard to describe without going into the plot of the movie. It is very much a tapestry. If I start to unravel just one strand, it may destroy the tapestry. The main character, Dae-Su, after a night of drinking and being held in custody of the police, suddenly disappears on his way home. For the next 15 years he is imprisoned (not in a typical prison), with his sole companion being TV. The rest of the story revolves around the whos and whys of what happened to him. The story is complicated and twisted, yet very compelling. For the duration of the movie I could not look away, completely captivated by the story (and waiting for it to unravel). The cinematography and soundtrack is simply stunning. My favorite scene has to be his return of the place of his incarceration (especially the hallway fight scene - reminded me of many side-scrolling video games). The fight scenes are not martial arts masterpieces, but rather realistic throw-downs (I especially like the use of a simple hammer). The only draw back is that I wish I knew Korean such that I could understand the making of featurettes (and get a better understanding of the movie).