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One of the most significant themes in Oldboy is time. Throughout the movie, there are references to the date and numerous shots of watches and clocks. The incorporation of these shots impressed upon the audience that time is of essence for Oh Daesu, the protagonist. Whether he is counting the years he is isolated in his room or trying to uncover the reason for his long imprisonment in a matter of a few days, time is portrayed as a key reason for many of the actions taken by the characters in the film. For example, on July 1st, Lee Woojin gives Daesu a few days to discover why he was in isolation by July 5th because it marks the date of his sister's death. Another theme Director Park Chan-wook demonstrates well is what it is like to have the human heart stripped completely bare. When this occurs mankind can become such beasts when their dignity and pride are taken away. A phrase that was repeated many times is, "Even though I am no worst than a beast, don't I have the right to live?" Woojin's revenge and cruelty towards Daesu is a portrayal of a beast within Woojin. Another portrayal is depicted through Daesu's imprisonment and how by teh end of his term, he has created a beast of himself. One of the last scenes in Woojin's penthouse shows both sides of Daesu simultaneously. In this scene, the beast is seen dying so Daesu can live again freely. Although Oldboy is a violent and twisted film, the condition of the heart can also be seen as change. Woojin, at the last moment, has mercy for Daesu by not revealing the shocking secret of the incestuous relationship between Daesu and his daughter.
ReplyDelete'OldBoy' could be a bit confusing and complicated to viewers. An object represents many purposes and relates to other objects; the television serves as a teacher, a friend, timer, and lover etc; the strange one-tone music is related to gas and a pericular emotional stage; and every object from a single chopstickto a colco and everything else is entagled to relate one another. Also repeatation of scens like holding a person to prevent from falling from the beginning to middle and end or view of a clock from the beginning and the moving scene add different and more complexed relationship throughout the movie. Moreover, various camera angles and edittings add more complexity; camera moves around, zooms into a character, takes still shots from far away to colse up, and views from eye-level or from above. For example, when Daesoo chases his memory about Woojin, the camera shoots two Daesoo from the past and present; views from third person and Daesso's perspective; and shoots being still or shaky. Hence the sences ellipse and change the perspective smoothly. Overall, because of too much diversities in many elements, the vieweres might have had hard time understanding little details of the story and scenes.
ReplyDeleteOld Boy is defiantly Hollywood skilled movie. This movie was produced in 2003, and by this time much of western or Hollywood influence in Korean Film can be seen. The movie Old Boy is a model of Korean Film development, and it is evident enough that such film made success in global market. The combination of the cinematography, and the mysterious scenario, although it is hard to follow at the beginning, the excitement of watching never fades away. The movie in general shows two critical turning point. Fist, is Woo Jin Tae's relationship with his sister. The tragedy behind incest is kept secret for more excitement as the movie proceeds to the climax. Then Dea-Su Oh's revenge turned out to be a trap for another incest relationship with Mi-do (the daughter). The whole complex game and the fight for vengeance involved sexual content, and violence. If those two element were not present the movie could have turned out to be a roll of wasted film. To generate more impact, the use of sexuality and violence served as motif that developed the movie.
ReplyDeleteWere there any unnecessary scene in the movie? I believe that every little scene was crucial in determining the character Dea-su. Most importantly what made this movie so curial, is the collusion of two life story, or two turning point into one big cycle.
This movie is about the personal revenge. Furthermore this movie makes audience to have curiosity while they are watching it. Movie shows how personal mind expresses to outside the world through chaos development of the story. Also it tells us their personality can be affected by their circumstances. Lee wojin got the deep grudge to Odesoo and starts to revenge him. All that happening are caused by little gossip came from Odesoo when he was young. Director tells us how important the word( which came from human’s mouth) is. Revenge is not simple. Woojin’s purpose of revenge is making Odesoo to find and realize his fault by himself. After that Woojin gives him extremely tragic agony which is making him to commit the incest with his daughter. It was really interested that movie shows us dual subject matters which is incest between Mido and Desoo, Woojin and his sister. By showing dual subject matters this movie gives strong impact to audience.
ReplyDeleteAlso there is interesting shot for me. That is extremely long shot which is fantasy shot. when Odesoo become free from the private jail which is made by Woojin. There is bright and wide grassland. In the grass land the bag is placed. Odesoo is came out from the bag. At the same time camera zooms and slowly get near to Desoo by hand held. That effectively works for expressing Desoo’s freedom and letting audience to begin the new story.
In his film “Oldboy,” Park Chan-wook incorporates myriad styles and genres of filmmaking to create a unique medley of excess. He uses such genres as comedy, horror, vengeance journey narrative, romance, and melodrama to appeal to the everyday viewer. But by the end, the film proves to be distinctly subtractive--it reduces the comforts of genre into a singular sense of horror. Throughout, Park emphasizes the aspect of transgression, not only of genre but also of watching and surveillance. Ironically, the dizzyingly circular school scene involving spying and watching finally ends with Soo-ah watching herself in the mirror in the ultimate act of self-absorption and vanity. She becomes both the object and the controller of the gaze; this control ends up being the futile obsession of most of characters in the film.
ReplyDeleteOld Boy by Park Chan Wook is one of the movies which you will watch it again and again and be amazed. Park Chan Wook uses many symbols and techniques in the film. First in the beginning, when Daesu disappears from the phone booth, the camera shows the road sign which has an arrow and X mark with the color red. This was surprising because in Korea, I believe that the road marks are usually in white. Color red seem to keep appearing throught out the movie. Also, at the end of the film when Daesu wakes up in the snow and his daughter, Mido comes in a red outfit and hugs him, and tells him, "I love you". I believe that the color red means a question mark or beginning of a tragedy. After the road sign, the next scene was Daesu's prison room and Mido's red outfit shows that they are in love, but after realizing Mido's identity, Daesu can't keep there relationship going, but he can't stop either. Also, in the beginning of the film, when Daesu is in the police station, I liked how Park Chan wook used the camera to become as a police officer talking to Daesu. I thought that was a great way to tell the story and show the characteristics of Daesu.
ReplyDeleteAs one of the prize winners of Park Chan wook, I expected a lot. From action to thriller and comedy, many genres appear in this move. In addition, this movie shows the radical changes in Korean movie history with Mr. Park introducing various kinds of cinematic technology (such as computer graphic-ant in the subway, some subtitles), and extraordinary theme. Also, while previous Korean movies are more likely to be artistic, Old Boy seems more commercial. For example, some violent scenes and very bizarre and weird behaviors of Daesoo and Woojin were inserted to attract audiences’ interest. Daesoo’s mistake in his school days which he already totally forgot evoked tragedy in Woojin and Soo ah’ lives. Also, I thought that human beings are very scary existence in extreme situations. The Dasoo’s behavior in order to secure his daughter at the last part, and especially Woojin’s one show this very well. Specifically, he waited more than 15 years to take revenge and he already had very accurate plans to make his friend, Daesoo, suffered from same situation as him with he making Dasoo fall into love with his daughter. Those factors above made the structure of the movie compactly and I hope the endless development of Korean movie.
ReplyDeleteIn Old Boy, Oh Dae Su and Lee Woo Jin’s competitive revenge catches people attention by using different effects and atmosphere. The saturation of colors was appropriately used to match the feelings and atmosphere of the movie. Effect of smooth background transition was used in this movie several times: transition of Oh Dae Su from bed to grass field when he was getting hypnosis, and transition of Mido crying in the subway to the room when she is wiping her tears. It was very interesting to see that the character is doing the same action and only the background changes to different place. The last scene also showed the transition where the childhood of Lee Woo Jin holding his sister’s hand at the river, and adult Lee Woo Jin holding his sister’s hand. The camera focuses on holding hands of Woo Jin and his sister but then the face changes from child version of Woo Jin and adult version of Woo Jin. This film also used mirror for another effect. The mirror means a lot in this movie because the mirror is the way Lee Woo Jin sister finds out that someone was looking at her and her brother. And at the last scene, Lee Woo Jin is talking to Oh Dae su by looking at the mirror. Also, graphic effects were used in this film. The most interesting and humorous graphic effect is the part where Oh Dae su is holding a hammer trying to aim it to the man’s forehead. At one moment the motion stops and the red dotted arrowed line, starting from the hammer, points the man’s forehead. Different effects were very successful in Old Boy.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I would like to point out in this movie is the similarity that exists between the characters, which is the "sheer loneliness" that is deeply embedded in each and every one of them which leads to the coexistence of depression. Dae-soo, who has been locked up by himself for 15 years and Mido, who Dae-soo meets by destiny and also Woo-jin, who's got the plan of vengeance all share this appalling forlornness in them. Although their characteristics may differ, Dae-soo and Mido both have experienced ant hallucination due to their loneliness and this sharing of common experience could have been one of the reasons they fell in love. Not to miss out the man who committed suicide that nobody wanted to listen to. Secondly, this film contained lot of scenes using the color violet. Violet contains meanings of death and sadness and at the same time, redemption and eternity. The umbrella that appeared when Dae-soo got kidnapped, the hankerchief Woo-jin used to wipe the blood off, the box and the album that was inside it were all violet in which the director may have used intentionally in order to send the message of "redemption" more efficiently. Lastly, the long take scene where Dae-soo fights multiple gang members in the pathway is probably the most representative scene which shows the director's covetousness of writer-oriented personality. There are no fancy snap shots nor any special editing techniques used but just silently staring the screen. This horizontal tracking scene, which is approximately 3 minutes long, doesn't provide the audience the pleasure of a fighting scene but instead, makes us feel the solitary existence and win the sympathy of one man. However, it was kind of disappointing that the director had to choose "hypnosis" as the medium to connect the storyline. Woo-jin says that he erased both Dae-soo's and Mido's memories through hypnosis but this lacks realism to be the movie's major twist since hypnosis is an element that is easily broken. Therefore, I think that although hypnosis contributes to the film as the major role, contrarily, it is also the weakest point of this movie.
ReplyDeleteThere is a Korean proverb saying, "Beware of your three chi tongue." Chi is a unit that was used during the Chosun Dynasty, standing for 3.03 centimeters. So three chi is about 9 centimeters which is something we can call relatively short. But the proverb tells us to beware of this short instrument inside our mouth. Yes, it truly is a powerful tool depending on how you use it. It can make someone happy, angry, and even die. In the movie Old Boy, all the mishaps that Dae Soo had to experience was because he spilled the beans with his tongue. If he had not talked about what he saw, none of the sufferings would have happened to him. What he said actually makes Woo Jin's cousin think she is pregnant and commit suicide. Through out the movie i think the directer was sucessful in sending the strong message to the viewers thorugh its surreal style of the camera works and shocking storyline. The movie reminds of us to THINK before you say something. What we say without thinking can cause tremendous consequences, though it may not be as radical as the movie.
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ReplyDeleteFirst of all, this movie was quite shocking in that there were elements of humor in this horror film. It used diverse comic elements to make the audience laugh in the most disturbing scenes, and despite the fact that the audience is well aware of the repulsive content, they still seem to laugh at the humor. This can be compared to how Dae-su spread the rumor about Woo-jin and Soo-ah, and later forgot about it completely because it had nothing to do with him. The movie seems to prove that people take others' problems lightly, and thus are able to laugh at their miseries if it has nothing to do with thier own lives.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, the movie's strong connection with the story of Oedipus made it more interesting to watch, in that the audience could think about the basic desires of humans. This story deals with an innate desire that we all posess, and yet shun the very idea of. People avoid talking about incest, and completely disregard accepting it. Even Dae-su, who spread the rumor about Woo-jin having a relationship with his sister, ended up having a relationship with his own daughter. This shows how people in the society fail to accept their natural instincts and recognize a sin that we all posess. The tendency to avoid the idea of incest is so strong that even people who have done it disregard others who have done the same.
-JiHyea Hwang
Oldboy is, to say the least, a jarring and disturbing film. in the second scene of the film, the man about to commit suicide asks protagonist dae-su "Even though I am worse than a beast, don't I have the right to live?" the film goes on to explore this question and the conflict between man's civil and bestial nature. dae-su is imprisoned for 15 years and hypnotized to unwittingly engage in a sexual relationship with his now-grown daoughter. this is all part of dae-su's captor woo-jin's elaborate plan as revenge for dae-su outing woo-jin's incestuous high school relationship with his sister. the two sides of human nature are unable to reconcile themselves with one another, as evidenced by woo-jin's refined penthouse and apparent preoccupation with his grooming, in contrast with his violence toward dae-su. dae-su is potrayed throughout the film as something of an animal, appearing first drunk, later wild-eyed with an untamed mane of hair, then eating a live unprepared octopus, fighting and tortuting enemies with revenge his aim. by the end dae-su is reduced fully to an animal, barking like a dog and incapable of speech having cut out his own tongue.
ReplyDeleteColor is utilized in Old Boy to signify greater themes. The color green is to signify nature and in contrast, purple represents artificiality, since purple “is rare to find in nature.” Woojin’s penthouse is surrounded with green, green lights and green walls. Woojin tries to surround himself in green which can also act as a soothing color to sooth him of his past and his loss. Later when Daesu is on the ground barking, begging for Woojin not to reveal the secret, one of the green lights is casted on his face, revealing the beast, the part of nature, that is inside him. Also, the box that contains his family album and the secret of his incest secret is in a purple box to show that to have sexual relations with a family member is not natural. (This can be tied to Oedipus. His incestual relations caused crops to fail, and inferitility showing incest goes against and disrupts nature). When the Ms. Kim hypnotizes Daesu to relieve him of his terrible secret, the nature color of green and artificial color of purple is again employed. When she refers to the beast that knows the secret, his expression is of a dumb empty animal and in a green light. His beast self knows his secret and thus is a monster because of it. The room is cast in purple light because what is happening in the scene is not real; the hypnotist is making it up. Daesu’s reflection in the window is purple because this part of Daesu does not know his secret and is also not real. It’s fake. Even though, Daesu is able to forget his secret, his green monster, Mido is still tainted (she is wearing red at the end), and thus he cries at the end in anguish.
ReplyDeleteIn the fight scene with the hammer the shot used has a very wide angle. This allows us to take in the full effect of the the sheer number of people fighting. Also when DaeSu is overwhelmed and you can't see him very well, it amplifies his feelings so that we can have a small taste of the desperation and pressure of the fight that he is in. using dark colors in the shot also add to this effect so that when everyone is close together it is hard to see and differentiate people from one another.
ReplyDeleteSuspenseful music, fast paced time, thrilling action, blood and gore, horror and sex, the impossible becoming reality… in many respects, “Oldboy” is just another well-made Hollywood film; only this time, made in Korea. In technical and artistic respects it is very advanced – but in terms of content it has taken quite a departure from “national” cinema. It is exemplary of what Abelmann pointed out: “Hollywood’s economic focus on regional, national, and international markets result systematic suppression of historical, political, and local detail in its classical cinema.” The fact that “Oldboy” is applicable to this Hollywood criterion indicates that the purpose of this film is more market-based than culture-based. The content is undoubtedly and uniquely disturbing; but it could happen anywhere. The setting is Korea; but it might as well be in England or China, and its message would be little affected. Its techniques using symbols are clever; the gas melody is in a strange minor key, as though it foreshadows the unnatural, and the ants that express loneliness akin to humans are perhaps universal symbols. More interesting are the use of camera lens within the film itself as photos of Mido, Soo-Ah, Daesu are taken and the use of mirrors – both cameras and mirrors are devices that one uses to see oneself and others, and in this film denote the necessity to see oneself and others clearly without deception. Despite its cleverness, “Oldboy” exploits and perpetuates gendered stereotypes. All of the major victims in this film are female. Mido and Soo-Ah are at many moments portrayed as “damsels in distress” sexually exploited by males. While Daesu and Woo-jin are undoubtedly victims in their own ways, they are notably the ones that instigate vengeance and action, while the females wait helplessly for the results. Even the female hypnotist who is dangerous and mysterious is sexualized by the revealing dress she wears and her body language. In the final scene, even as Daesu’s memory has been put to rest, Mido appears wearing a bright red coat and hat, symbolizing passion, desire and sex – as though tacitly condemning Mido who remains as a temptress/seductress to Daesu after he has finally sought peace.
ReplyDeleteIn "Old Boy" there were scenes in which the protagonist Dae-su experiences ants and a live octopus ruining him from inside his body. These images are comparable to the image given in a book called "Utopia" by Thomas Moore, who describes some men as insects who feed on carcasses. He also argued that insects are vessels of evil in society feeding on the flesh of whatever they can find and further rotting their host. The images of ants and the octopus in the movie supports Moore's idea that men, like insects, for whatever reason could cause other beings to rot from the inside simply by contact. The film translates Moore's ideas through using Dae-su's vengeance and his thirst for the truth as factors that contribute to his own demise. Symbolically, Dae-su is the carcass and ideas of revenge and justice were instilled in him by someone who was also out for revenge and who also happens to be physically rotting from the inside given that a pacemaker substitutes his real heart. By coming into contact with this evil man Dae-su desires revenge and the truth even more so that he starts to psychologically and emotionally deteriorate from within himself. (Anny Wong)
ReplyDeleteWhat I immediately noticed when watching this movie was the quality of the imaging. Through this course, I was able to literally watch film-quality and technology improve in the movies we’ve watched. As I was watching this film, the significance of time was always stressed; this is reflected through specific dates (ex. July 5th), the tallying of years during his confinement, the repetitive clips of clocks, and even the chronological setup of the events that took place. At times, it was difficult to understand what time period certain events were occurring, but I feel like this was also what made the movie a success. Playing with time was what grasped most of my attention through the duration of the movie.
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ReplyDeleteThroughout the film "Old Boy", there is this unique pattern that is on many different objects in the film. The first time the pattern is seen is on the umbrella at a top angle shot when Daesoo gets kidnapped. The second time the pattern in seen is on the handkerchief given to Daesoo when he is bloody on the street. And lastly the pattern covers the box that Woojin gives to both Daesoo and Mido. This pattern must hold some sort of unique meaning. The last scene of the glass breaking in Woojin's penthouse was the meaning behind it. It mimicked breaking glass so in the context of the film it was a breaking of happiness and taboo. Woojin uses this pattern to show how his life was shattered once his sister committed suicide. Thus, he gives objects with these patterns to break Daesoo's life and happiness. The patterned box holds the album which shatters Daesoo's life showing that he committed incest. Thus, this pattern is a depiction of shattered glass which is a portrayal of there shattered lives.
ReplyDeleteThe film “Oldboy”, directed by Park Chan-wook, intentionally constructs confusion throughout the story regarding whom the protagonist and antagonist are: Oh Daesu versus Lee Woojin. Though Daesu is likely to be seen as the protagonist as he attempts to avenge Woojin for the fifteen years of questionable imprisonment, had Director Park started with Woojin’s point of view the audience could easily feel otherwise. The combination of vengeance, grudge and tears create the aesthetics within the depiction of Woojin: the beautiful penthouse, the number of neatly folded white dress shirts in it and his humming of “Cries and Whisper.” One of the aesthetically powerful photographic scenes was in the Penthouse where Woojin is exercising on his stomach slowly raising his legs and the camera moving towards his tears (1:12:22). It seemed clear that the director wanted to portray the character not only as an angry man but also pitiful yet beautiful. Woojin constantly offers the song “Cries and Whisper” in the film: the ringtone of the cell phone he gave to Daesu, the music he turns on as he meets Daesu at the apartment across from Mido’s and the song he hums at the penthouse laser-pointing the purple box. The song “Cries and Whisper” seem to have the role of merely whispering Woojin’s cry to Daesu. The obsession with neatness is also displayed within the character; this is evident through the look of the penthouse, the amount of plain white shirts in his drawer and the tie pins. The scene where he shoots Mr. Han as he tries to kill Daesu proves such characteristic of Woojin- he checks his sleeve to see if blood spattered on it. Perhaps Woojin’s neatness lessens his guilt of the dirty rumor he could not save his sister from. Would you still see him as the antagonist or would his cries of whisper put you on his side?
ReplyDeleteA part of "Old Boy" that I found interesting was the constant reminder than things in the past don't die and are not forgotten, no matter how hard people try. The obvious sign of this is Woo-jin's inability to forget his sister's death from his schooldays and his need for revenge more than fifteen years later. This theme was shown in many other ways, with camera tricks. There were several scenes in which a graphic-match-like effect was used, in which the character was shown in the same position but the settings changed. This technique was used when Mido wiped the tear from her face, thinking about the loneliness from her past and present, while claiming that she doesn't know what it feels like to be lonely enough to imagine ants. This technique is used again when Daesu is eating mandu, and again near the end when Woo-jin imagines himself holding his sister over the bridge. These are all instances in which the three main characters are unable to forget or let go of something from the past, no matter how hard they try.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the film, 'Old Boy', Oh Dae-su finally arrived in his 15 year imprisoned home. During these scenes, Park Chan Wook ends each of his scenes with a blank black screen acting as a pause. Although a minute detail, the director uses this techinque to portray the movie's darkness and gloomy plot that inevitably leads to Daesu's instability. Although cuts and edits of a film are normal, I believe this film's edits were more noticeable because Park Chan Wook's use of fading black screen transitions reemphasized the fading of his own life and moving on to the life Woojin creates for Daesu. Park Chan Wook only fades to black during the imprisonment scenes because this was the time Daesu's 'training' and change were taking place.
ReplyDeleteThe scene that sticks out for me is the one where Oh Daesu and his daughter were gassed in the hotel room. We then see Lee WooJin enter and are subjected to a close up shot of Mido's face. The shot lingers for awhile before cutting to WooJin staring at Mido. This seems to depict the male gaze on females. We have several instances where we have this lustful male gaze, the other memorable scene being when Daesu is watching WooJin and his sister. These shots serve to define the role of women being objects of men and vulnerable, keeping fairly consistent with other films we have viewed before.
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ReplyDeletePark Chan Wook’s films are just like those purple gift boxes in “Oldboy.” Contemporary in design, categorized as art house, and perfectly packaged like any other Hollywood film. Kang Hye-Jeong was perfectly casted but misused. She started taking on the Audrey Tatou/”Amelie” virgin naivety in juxtaposition with Park’s use of cutesy French humor (ant on the bus, music, cinematography) which was garbage and uninventive on his part. Park aestheticizes violence, suffering, pain, regret, isolation, incest, etc. And when everything is so beautifully portrayed, its like we’re drugged and lost in a realm of plastic fantasy; this is an effect that works perfectly in this film. However, when everything (characters, emotions, subject matter) is so severely stylized, the film becomes one-track and everything whether good or bad is drowned out and justified by its aesthetic qualities/false poetic-ness/plastic qualities. In the absence of any effort to break out of the plasticity but with the recognition of its potential danger, we feel the suffocation of this nightmarish world exacerbated.
ReplyDeleteThe film was at least in my intial reactions ridiculously amazing. I felt that the composition of the film primarily through its emphasis on close up shots during scenes of intense action (fighting, sex, torture) helped to link the audience to Daesu through these close ups which allowed the audience to experience the "real" parts of his life after captivity. Outside of the action sequences the film was shot mostly in medium long shots of long shots in which creates a disillusionment of the character and his life almost as if this revenge were merely a dream or a nightmare that Daesu could not escape from. Sound in the final confrontation sequence also helped to connect the audience to the characters because eliminating the sound as Daesu struggled for his life against the body guard exhibits for panic and struggle can cause a person to exclude certain senses in the fight for survival (i.e. sound as Daesu is being choked to death before the gun shot violently brings sound back into the film). Finally the use of recursive elements such as the blue dragon dumplings and the melody that becomes Daesu's phone ringtone help the audience to explore the depth of Deasu's mental instabilty (his crazed revenge for imprisonment) because for a portion of the film he is obsessed with the minute details that controlled his imrprisonment.
ReplyDelete-James Seiling
Oldboy is one of my favorite films. Park Chanwoo's use of colors, patterns and reoccuring themes, characters, quotes and interpersonal bonds is revealing of the kind of effort that goes into a disturbing thriller such as Oldboy. What stayed most vivid to me, though the whole film is memorable, was the final scene. The ambiguity of this supposed meeting with the hypnotist leaves many questions unanswered. Did the encounter ever even happen? Does Oh Daesu's smile imply that he is now blissfully ignorant of his incestuous relationship, or that he remembers everything and has accepted it as his punishment? This last smile is neither happy nor unhappy, almost deranged and neurotic. The smile mirrors the smile Oh Daesu gives when he recites the quote "When you laugh the world laughs with you, but when you weep you weep alone". If he has not forgotten then he has accepted his relationship with his daughter as another tragedy in his life. However, we also never find out if he continues this incestuous relationship because of the fact that we don't know if he remembers it at all. Such an open and ambiguous ending leaves all interpretations up to the viewer.
ReplyDeleteAnother theme of the film that I would like to breifly comment on was the images of the characters. Oh Daesu was at first just your average salaryman, slightly overweight, average in about everything. After getting out of his prison, he is ragged, wrinkled and constantly looks like he has smelled something unpleasant. As the "good guy" (which should be taken lightly because there is no good guy or bad guy here, really...) his image is the furthest from ideal that I have ever seen. Lee Woojin, however, is cleancut, lean, tall, attractive and has the face of a nice person even though he is the "bad guy". Seeing these two characters side by side to compare and contrast led me to the conclusion that at first glance, the more trustworthy character would be Lee Woojin. In Oh Daesu's mind the images of Lee Woojin and himself are reversals of their roles in relation to one another. Lastly, Mido: her first appearance in the film was during her job as a sushi chef. Her hair is made up and she has make up on and looks mature and much older than she looks for the rest of the film. From that point on, I noticed that Mido began looking younger and younger as the film wore on. I think that the fact that she began looking younger was done on purpose to make clearer the father-daughter relationship that Oh Daesu and Mido shared. Even when they began their romantic relationship, Oh Daesu would take care of her (drying her hair, making sure she was safe in the prison, etc) in a very fatherly way.
This is the second time that I have seen the movie 'Oldboy'. I was surprised by how much more I learned from watching this movie a second time around. Since I knew Mido was Oh Daesu's daughter the scene where he blow dries her hair was very significant. It was right after the scene where they were in bed together. It brought the viewer to 2 totally different contrasts of relationships. The scene where they were having sex was a scene between lovers. And soon after that Oh Daesu is blow drying Mido's Hair, this would be a scene between father and daughter. It brings a bittersweet moment between the two. Without having watched it the first time I would not have caught this, so it suffice to say what more could we find out by watching a 3rd or even a 4th time. I was surprised to see how much CGI was used in this movie, it was clear that Hollywood had a big impact on the movie. From one long fighting sequence where the camera just stayed panning the long hallway, to the scene where Woojin is looking at Daesu through the mirror; it is clear that the director used a lot of the Hollywood style of film making.
ReplyDeleteOld Boy, the first sequence of Park Chan Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy clearly portrays the theme “revenge” through Dae Su and Woo Jin’s unclear predator-victim relationship and multiple twists from the whole plot to small details. The reason why Oh Dae su is imprisoned for 15 years is veiled until the end, and as he tries to find out who did it and why for revenge, the twist, Mido being Dae Su’s daughter comes as a shock to viewers. Despite the incestuous love, Dae Su who tries to revenge throughout the film suddenly becomes the victim of Woo Jin’s extremely well-planned revenge from 20 years ago. After Woo Jin is finished with his revenge, he commits suicide in an abruptly deep emptiness. But here, the director once again brings up a twist which shows that Woo Jin’s revenge failed since their ending wasn’t so tragic as Woo Jin and Su Ah’s. Not only in the story but also Park Chan Wook’s signature style in art direction describes “revenge” itself. Art in Old Boy looks very alike with those in two Vengeance Trilogy films; such as vivid vintage patterns of wall papers, and clothing, quirky and timeless accessories, and awfully simple and futuristic interior and furniture. All these characteristics naturally create very unbalanced, ironic yet overwhelming atmosphere that makes time non-existent matter although it is one of the very important points in this film. Unlike other normal films, A=A doesn’t work in Old Boy. A could be B, C, or anything; non-sense makes sense in front of a mad man’s revenge.
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ReplyDeleteI am slightly confused as to several parts of the film. For one, considering how distraught and obviously regretful Oh Daesu is over having a sexual relationship with his daughter, why does he choose to hypnotize himself and continue a sexual relationship with her? Would it not be better for Oh Daesu to let her believe that he is dead? I also don't understand why he just suddenly decided to cut out his own tounge. I understand he was under *slightly* stessful conditions but there are a number of things he could have done that did not result in his loss of ability to do something so crucial as speaking. Thirdly, I didn't really understand the use of out of focus imaging in several shots near the end in Woojin's penthouse. Was it to express the haziness in Oh Daesu's knowlege being cleared with Woojin's explanation? or is that to farfetched an interpretation?
ReplyDeleteThis movie exploits the most extreme and the darkest reaches of human emotion, specifically in the form of incest, violence, revenge, and pain (emotional and physical). There is, therefore, an intentionally surreal atmosphere in the movie. At the same time, there IS a chilling, "this could happen to you" message; the world the film presents is unreal and exaggerated, but its basis rests on one single, quotidian event: a friend confiding a secret about another person to another friend. As one character in the film implies, one's imagination is what creates our fear. And in a way, Old Boy is a horror film, for we can easily identify with Lee Daesu and his forgotten mistake, and therefore as we think back on the film (or perhaps watch the film a second time), we are led to imagine ourselves in Daesu's plac, and in such a truly frightening world.
ReplyDeleteThis film is full of symbols. One small, and perhaps unintentional, symbol was Lee Daesu's tongue. Woo Jin obviously blames the death of his sister, and accredits his own behavior, on Daesu's tongue, for essentially beginning a ruinous rumor. This is briefly foreshadowed, I thought, when Lee Daesu is about to have his teeth extracted, and he makes the extractor (I don't know/remember his name) hesitate with his foul-smelling mouth. I connected this with his tongue in my mind, because not only did I remember that, apparently, most of one's mouth-stench comes from one's tongue, Daesu also made a point of sticking his tongue out at his attacker.
Film "Old Boy" explores utter destruction of humanity. Director Park Chanwook frequently uses facial close-ups in this film. Even though the plot itself is quite uphauling to the audience, Park is not only concerned about how the story is told, but also puts priority in describing different extreme emotions the characters go through at each moment. One of the most memorable scenes was the one where Daesu is eating an alive octupus. In order to take his revenge, he is suppressing the deep grief and rage over death of his wife and being imprisoned for 15 years. When he is killing the octupus it seems like he is killing his old self. And after he faints, he is reborn as a vengeful monster.
ReplyDeleteThe use of time in Oldboy played the largest part throughout the movie. I even enjoyed how the credits at the beginning moved like a clock. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the fact that we, the viewers, only knew as much as Daesu did. A small example is when Daesu first wakes up in the "prison" and he is putting his head out the bottom of the door during mealtime. The camera is at the same level as Daesu and this allows viewers to see what Daesu sees. I am a little confused on whether Daesu successfully forgot his memory about Mido being his daughter or if the hypnotism had failed. Overall, I enjoyed the movie because of the ever-growing suspense and also the curiousity that I shared with Daesu about uncovering the truth.
ReplyDeleteOld Boy is the ultimate revenge film. Unlike many action-based revenge films, Old Boy is more of an advanced psycho-thriller that makes the viewers really wracks their brains alongside the main character Dae-Su, to try and keep up with what is going on in the movie. The film is narrated by moving from past to present, back and forth through Dae-Su’s old memories while he is trying to figure out the reality of his situation, how reliable and realistic the reality he is searching for is unsure. There are many symbolic objects in this movie such as Dae-Su’s diary, television, clock, camera, and wire-taping device, but all these seem to symbolize similar components, in that they seem to tell a story within a story. While we are on symbolism, there is one other thing to note, and that is the way the movie title is presented. At the beginning of the film, the letters of the movie title Old Boy is shown moving clockwise with the sound of a clock ticking, showing the viewers how the movement of time may be of significance in the movie they are about to watch. Furthermore, the calendar appears quite often throughout the scenes with the same clock ticking sound to emphasize the importance of the moment and the passing of time. The interaction between the characters of Old Boy is rather unique and indirect in which, the viewers and the minor characters Mido and Woo-Jin become familiar with Dae-Su through objects such as the diary and the wire-taping device with no direct interactions. And through the photographs Dae-Su gets to know who Woo-Jin is and the existence of his daughter Mido.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed while watching "Old Boy" for the second time was Park Chan-Wook's various use of lighting and props in order to bring about a certain mood or tone for each scene. For instance, the lighting and the furniture within the confines of Daesu's "prison" were all a sort of dark jewel tone that made the scenes taken in that place even more eerie and chilling. In contrast, the colors we see in the sushi restaurant or at Woo-Jin's penthouse are more focused on rich colors such as blue, green, or red--which creates a type of mood that is still eerie, but also constructs a more dreamlike, fantasy atmosphere. Also, I found there to be a lot of foreshadowing in this film that wasn't too obvious but apparent enough to be realized and enjoyed when watched the second time around. In the beginning of the film, when Daesu is still entrapped in the room, he writes all of his misdeeds in a notebook. He then states, "I thought I lived an average life--but I've sinned too much." This foreshadows his consequence for the "wrong-doing" of spreading a rumor. Later, Woo-Jin foreshadows his own painful fate when he says, "Revenge is good for the health. But what happens after you seek revenge? I bet that hidden pain will come back again." Even after he seeks revenge, the hidden pain deep within never really goes away.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting aspect of Oldboy is the focus of the camera. The camera often focuses on the lower half of the face, blocking the eyes from view and showing mainly the mouth. This concentration accentuates the importance of the mouth throughout the film; it is the mouth which is implicated in the spreading of rumors - the ultimate reason behind all the violence and vengeance. To try to remedy his wrongs, Daesu even mutilates his mouth near the end of the film. This scene is as if on replay in my mind as I write this. It is grotesquely powerful how the camera lingers on Daesu’s distraught, wild, frantic pleading without showing Woojin’s reaction at all until the camera finally pans around to reveal that he is laughing at Daesu’s despair. These two beasts, Woojin and Daesu, I feel, should both not continue to live (referring to the repeated quote throughout the film, “Even though I am no worse than a beast, don't I have the right to live?”) for two reasons: Woojin, because he is coldhearted and evil, and Daesu because his life has been ruined and his person diminished to near hopelessness.
ReplyDeleteThe first striking difference that I noticed immediately between “Old Boy” and other films we have watched thus far is the use of the camera in capturing in shots. One specific camera technique that was used was the process of following the object of interest with the camera instead of the camera being held on a stationary point with a larger view of the scene. An instance of this is seen at the beginning of the film where Oh Daesu is drunk and making raucous at the police station; the camera is shaky and allows to viewer to feel like he/she is actually in the scene. This film is quite twisted in the sense that the viewer is led through a mysterious narrative with an ending that is unexpected and out of the ordinary. This film places a lot more emphasis on the plot and uses camera techniques that are rather dark and unknowing. I did not enjoy the film because of its quirky narrative, but did enjoy the different techniques that were used to create a unique feeling for the viewer.
ReplyDeleteThere were two quotes that resonated throughout the film: 1)"Laugh and the whole world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.” And “Be it a grain of sand or a rock, in water they sink the same.”. I believe these quotes deal with choices. Life vs death, and revenge vs truth.
ReplyDeleteThe first time this was quoted was after the man made the choice to take his life jumping off the building.. And at the end of the movie, during the flashbacks of Woojin and his sister on the dam, there were choices of life and death; to laugh (the sister who wished to “laugh” with her brother), or “live” in bliss through death/ignorance. And the brother who wept, alone. Through the movie, you can tell Woojin led a life in loneliness. In contrast, Daesu chose to “laugh” and live throughout the whole movie. At no point in the movie did he quit in his pursue for vengeance and truth, and in the end, after getting screwed by Woojin, he still chooses to “laugh” (smile), whether in ignorance or not, at the end of the movie upon his hypnosis.
The second quote deals with a decision/mistake made, whether it is small or big, is a mistake, and they result in the same consequence. Daesu’s small mistake in telling one person led to the suicide of a young girl, and torment of a young man’s life. His punishment consisted of 15 years of imprisonment, and reverse vengeance resulting in incest with his own daughter. Again these events were built through a chain of choices. Although they were preplanned and known by Woojin, the pursuit of truth and vengeance led to the ultimate decision to laugh or weep.
The film "Old Boy" was a great contrast from the previous films that were screened in class. The past films concerned more with the development of the Korean cinema and its effects on the Korean population (i.e., national pride, Korean traditions, etc). However, "Christmas in August" signaled a lean towards the art cinema, and now "Old Boy" completely took advantage of a more Hollywood-like atmosphere, which is what stood out to me the most. I had known that "Old Boy" was a great movie from my peers, but having watched it for the first time finally, I was shocked from what I had witnessed. The plot was twisted, the cinematography more complex, the soundtrack eerie...it was the complete opposite of the typical Korean melodramatic genre. Overall, I highly respected and enjoyed this film despite the gory scenes and its dark ideals.
ReplyDeleteOld boy captures the vicious emotion of revenge- more specifically, Woojin’s revenge on Oh Dae-su for spreading a deadly rumor about his sister (and later, Oh Dae-su’s revenge on his capturer). What’s important to note is the significance of time. The director blatantly incorporates images of clocks and symbols of time throughout the film-often in and between scenes. Perhaps the constant reminder of time has to do with the long withstanding emotion of revenge. In retrospect Woojin went out of his way to plan this intricate revenge on Oh Dae-su’s for something that happened many years ago. Thus, we see that time had not healed old wounds and Woojin’s feelings of vengeance towards Oh Dae-su only manifested. In the end, when Woojin finally gets what he wants out of Oh Dae-su, we see that revenge does not provide him with much satisfaction. Eventually, he commits suicide. On the flip side, time has much importance when it comes to Oh Dae-su. We see how a majority of Oh Dae-su’s life is plagued with the consequences of his actions made during his adolescences. The film is divided into different stages: first, the 15 years of his life spent in the prison, second, the few days he has to figure out his capturers motives, and then towards the end of his life when we seeks the help of the hypnotist of forget everything. Each stage emphasizes the awareness of how much time he has spent suffering his consequences. By the end of the film, audiences can’t help but feel a sense of caution as they witness the power and tragedy of revenge.
ReplyDeleteThe movie "Old Boy" is such a great movie. One of the biggest themes of this movie is revenge and various techniques are effectively used to enhance the significance of the theme revenge. The fact that we know just as much as Daesu knows and see things that he sees helps the audience be more engaged in the movie and sympathize with Daesu. The audience want to find out why Daesu is imprisoned just as much as he does and want the revenge just as much as he does because he seems completely innocent initially. However, as the audience finds out the truth, the audience begin to see things from the viewpoint of an observer, instead of Daesu's. This feature then allows the audience a chance to review everything shown in the movie and see things also from the viewpoint of Woojin. Thus when Woojin remembers how he let his sister go off the cliff and kills himself, the audience are more likely to regard the scene as a pathetic one, instead of the success of revenge.
ReplyDelete"Laugh, and the world laughs with you; weep, and you weep alone" is a recurring phrase throughout the film. We first see the words written beneath the painting of a hellishly grotesque looking monster in Oh Dae-su’s prison. This painting foreshadows of what Oh Dae-su will eventually become, a monster bent on taking revenge. The phrase beneath the painting is a reflection of Oh Daesu’s personal woes and losses, pointing out that he is all alone in his sufferings in which the world does not care about. The phrase is used in moments of great anguish or peril, and every time it is used Oh Dae-su refuses to ’weep.’ Instead, we see Oh Dae-su with a wide, devilish grin as if to say “Why so serious?,” his mechanism of overcoming struggles and sufferings in life by laughing it off, putting up a false front, and not taking life seriously.
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ReplyDeletePark’s movies always weigh in my mind after I watch them. He usually deals with very sensitive topics, and he does not even cover up the most sensitive parts in depiction. Oldboy also talks about incest, revenge, and violence. In Oldboy, the most important factors are “words” and “memory.”
ReplyDeleteThe word “words” is usually called “언령(言靈)” in Korean, which holds the meaning of the words’ power. "Oh Daesu talks too much.” Woojin’s words confuse Daesu that even makes Daesu to ask his friend if he really talks too much. But later, Woojin says to Daesu, “Your tongue made my sister pregnant. Not Lee Woojin’s dick, but Oh Daesu’s tongue!” Three chi tongue’s power is indeed strong enough to not only cause false pregnancy, but also drive somebody to commit suicide. And of course, that small word of rumor became a grain of sand that started the revenge of Woojin.
Another key word is memory. Woojin says that it is not him who made Daesu to forget what Daesu did, but it was Daesu himself who simply forgot what he did. People usually remember only the things they want to remember and forget other things, thinking that it’s none of their business. Although those deals happened because of themselves.
In the film "Oldboy", vengeance was the persistant theme in the movie. The first 15 minutes of the movie itself gave a chilling summarization of 15 years of imprisonment. Each scene of imprisonment made the viewer sympathize with the narrator. As the viewers see the transformation of the character of Daesu, and how he attains his vengeance mindset, the viewers also catch a glimpse of the director's use of extreme-close up shots, background setting, props, and dual screen editing to enhance the mood and tone of the film. The background interior wall inside the prison had a striped pattern and the fake window of the windmill in the background, that gave the audience a look at how the character lived in his confined home for fifteen long years. It was interesting how the beginning started off with a narration by Oh-Daesu, but as the movie progressed, the narration ceded until the end of the movie, when Daesu is in a meeting with the hypnotist. The movie itself paid homage to classical baroque music, which made the movie seem even more authentic. The movie also mentioned works of literature that could correlate to the plot, like "count of Monte Cristo". "Be it a rock or a grain of sand, in water they sink the same." This one line was repeated throughout the film, and it had a deep almost very proverbial meaning, in that even the smallest rumors can bring someone down.
ReplyDeleteThe cinematic scope of the film ranges from a very film noir to a kubrick-esque style. The hallway scene where Dae-su fights off the thugs was all in one take, which was phenomenal, because of the length of that one take was around five minutes. It probably took the director many takes to just get that one scene perfected.
Just like the film "Single Spark," we can learn a lot from the first five minutes of the movie "Oldboy." Oh Daesu has become a such a monster like the first scene because of his uncaring nature that is shown immediately after the man who tries to commite suicide asks Oh Daesu his name. And constantly, the story progresses with first the consequence following with the cause. Oh Daesu is locked up in a 7.5 floor private cell for 15 years and then he has to find out why he was locked up for 15 years.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there are more examples of this, i would like to move on to talk about the patterns of the wall paper in the cell where Oh Daesu was locked up. First, I thought watching this extraordinary wall paper for more than 10 minutes would drive me crazy. And then, when I think about its meaning, the patterns can represent characters, events and how they are related. Oh Daesu, Mido, Lee Woojin, Sooah, Joohwan are all deeply related even if no one realizes this except for Woojin who set up this revenge.
- JunHwan Kim
The most apparent theme in this film is the theme of revenge. Director Park Chan Wook reveals this theme and how revenge is best served cold through the cat and mouse game Woojin plays on Daesu and all the anguish Daesu must feel. Park accomplishes this by having Woojin force Daesu to live in incarceration for several years to understand Woojin's agony of years of suffering and despair, having Woojin constantly provoke his curiosity by not telling him why he commits all these heinous acts to build up his resentment and appetite for revenge, and hypnotizing Daesu to fall in love with this daughter to experience an incest relationship like Woojin did. Park cleverly uses different camera techniques to complement the film and accentuate on certain features. One technique I noticed was the way Park constantly focuses on Daesu and his facial expressions so that we can observe the emotions he feels. This technique serves to evoke sympathy from the audience towards Daesu as we go through his suffering and journey to seek answers together with him.
ReplyDeleteI was impressed by the techinique of this movie. The way how Park Chanwook depicted Daesu was at first pretty odd. He used like still shots or captured images as if the film was skiped sightly forward. As the film went on and explained the story, this technique showed the most direct way to show Daesu's mind. A confussed complexed thoughts that he had withouth any answers almost made him not think except the reason why he was there. During 15years his thought becoming numb. The sight not moving shots were the representation of his mind which was very interesting to me. Also Woojin said "Deasu talks too much." and Daesu cut his tongue at the end. There is an old saying in Korea that the tongue is a weapon. To think about the Korean-ness, I felt the importance of talking seems not important but it could decide one's life that was the basic of this movie content.
ReplyDeleteFrom the very first scene of Daesu captured in the police station, viewers can predict the presence of comicality and the theme of duality in this film. He is drunk and he changes his attitudes and words continuously, from pleading to the police officers to swearing to let him go. Following this scene, the telephone booth scene takes place and the viewers have the first account of a pattern. On the road, there is a big arrow sign pointing towards the right, and on top of an umbrella, a geometric pattern fills the surface. Many other systematic patterns pervade throughout the film (wall paper, mattress, tatoo..) and these symbols imply the directive ness and the repetition of life, time, and the cycle of revenge. The patterns also provide a mystical mood that adds to Daesu’s situation. Another interesting feature of this film is the use of reflection (Daesu in the hair salon and penthouse). Towards the end, Daesu is captured reflected on a mirror a number of times and this may symbolize the coexistence of the truth and the seemingly truthful lies in the world (like Daesu and the monster, false rumor and the truth regarding Yoojin and his sister’s relationship). Overall, the cruelty, seriousness and the darkness is mitigated through its comical aspects, esp. with the use of graphic effects (dotted lines, red subtitle)
ReplyDeleteThroughout the film, Daesu is always in some type of captivity. First, he is locked up in police station. Second, he literally gets locked up in a small room. Thrid, even when he gets out of the world, he is imprisoned by his anger and curiosity to find out who locked him up. He also faces the fact that he cannot be accpted by anybody because he is accused of killing his own wife. Moreover, Daesu falling in love wuith his own daughter shows that he can never be accepted by the society.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like the film "Old Boy", because it was very violent. It showed in a very natrual way the issues we put under taboo in our society. I also thought how the director was able to think the subject matters (like commit incest) were too naive which made me uncomfortable while watching the film. An imgination of human being was endless, and the ways to express it were speechless. I didn't like the synopsis of this film at all, however, the actors played well enough to have the expressiveness on their face which kept me concentrating on this film. The result of the rumor Dae Su made was tragic. Dae Su couldn't remember his fault at first, the reason for this, Woo Jin told him "Because it was not your not business, it was not by hypnotism at all." A word was nothing for Dae Su, but it tortured Woo Jin and his sister, and it finally made his sister to suicide. The scene Woo Jin did yoga with very sad face showed that he was lonely and melancholian. Then, to revenge was a motivation for Woo Jin to live. It was more than a revenge someone did, Woo Jin took everything away from him. For fifteen years, he locked him a small room, tortured him by gas, fed him only fried dumplings and so on. After Dae Su was released, he tried his best to find the person confined him. Woo Jin constantly let him find the clues "Why he released him?", instead of "Why he confined him?". At last, not being in a small room and having a relationship with Mido was actually more painful for Dae Su and it made Woo Jin laugh (revenge). However, even Dae Su perfectly fit into Woo Jin's plan and he asked him for a forgiveness, Woo Jin also lost a hope to live. It was very impressive enough to show once someone became purposeless, he became the weakest person ever and lost an ambition to live.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed "Oldboy" but also found it very disturbing as well because of the many twists that were revealed at the end of the movie. I liked how the movie was narrated by the main character but it also seemed as if the audience was in the movie as well. The movie was also pretty realistic although there were parts that were animated such as the huge sized ant sitting on the subway.The vibe of this movie was dark and eerie, yet it was somewhat comedic as well. The music that was played with certain scenes were also very ironic. For example, the background music for parts when the people are killing each other is classical music. When a person thinks about classical music, he/she would think it is calming and soothing and it is ironic that classical music would be associated with revenge, pain and death. The scene changes throughout the movie was also very interesting. Some scenes changed very quickly as if it didn't even happen such as when the main character looks on the website for the school and it zooms into the screen and at the next scene he is actually at the school.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I watch movies directed by Park Chan Wook, I always think he is genius. Especially Old Boy is the most well-made movie among his three revenge serieses.
ReplyDeleteWhen WooJin said "both grits and rocks sink at the end," he implies that Daesu made small mistake but it ended as big one.
Plus, "reason for prisoning Daesu for 15years is that he talks too much," tells Daesu's mistake was from his words.
Park Chan Wook used many red color through out the whole movie which added scary feeling. Signs on the road, wallpaper of prison and Mido's room, album,
and Mido's outfit at the end of the movie were all red. However, those red color was all dark red except Mido's last outfits. I think this change of darkness is
coming from WooJin's death.
Kowoon Lim
Daesun, the main character in the movie "Old Boy" endures obscure obstacles in his life, that no ordinary people would face in real life. Solitary Confinement plays as a theme in the first part of the film where Daesun interacts with the television and learns all the necessary information from the news and entertainment channels. The scene of the painting in Daesun's room seems to be very significant in the film, where it expresses the traumatic, painful expereience Daesun was enduring during the fifteen years of his life. The painting was also emotionless like Daesun, and each of the streaks and blood on its face defines the anger that Daesun has encountered. The second half of the movie mostly plays the theme of loss-identity, where the character Daesun does not have his own identity, so he continuously seeks for the question to why he was imprisoned for fifteen-years. The director of this film illustrates this loss of identity through one of the last scenes in the film. Towards the end of the movie, half of Daesun's face and half of Evergreen's face comes together to form a whole face figure. The camera angle is zoomed in, so the viewers can only perceive the one figure and question themselves to why the director would project such figure. The loss of identity can also be witnessed through Daesun's vacant countenance throughout the movie. Daesun does not really show an emotional response. The viewers can only predict to the mood or the emotional response when the music is playing while showing Daesun's vacant face in the film.
ReplyDeleteThe movie "Old Boy" depicts 'revenge'. The interesting thing is that Dae su does not even know at first what he has done to Woojin in the past. The revenge is more severe than what Dae su has done to Woojin in the past as well. However, I do not blame Woojin that much because a person psychologically prefers damaging injurer in the same way the injurer did to the person to just being rewarded. This is the point that I could be more focused on the movie and feel sympathy.
ReplyDeleteThe impressive scene is fighting scene in the prison that he has lived for 15 years to torture the owner of the prison.
Camera technique in the scene is also amazing. Even though the space is three demension in the real world, the fighting scene is seen in two demension like ants' view.