Day 142: Oldboy (July, 29)

I'd really wished that I wouldn't had to write about this movie. But I do not allow myself any escapes on this dare, so here I am. 

I could just go straight to the point and say how masterful Chan-Wook Park is in Oldboy, a movie from 2003 that i took too long to see. And I only can imagine how it would be seeing it at that time, because its cinematography is still fresh, despite the increasing productions with that kind of pop gamer aesthetics. During the whole movie, iIpictured myself at a cinema, 13 years ago, being amazed and terrified by what I would see in front of me. Even on the small old screen of my TV it was beautiful and of a great impact. 

That would be accurate, but a bit far from what actually happened to me with Oldboy.

Sitting alone in a desert dark world, bawling to turbulent skies in distress and big despair would be more appropriate here. If you think I'm overreacting, take a breath. I'm being subtle in fact. Because I was unable to figure what do with myself during its last scenes. I was cursing the decision to watch it, cursing the writers, at the same time that I couldn't deviate my eyes from the screen. In a disturbed and heartbreaking state, I wished I haven't seen it and was grateful to reach it on this day. 

A story of tragic proportions, peculiar ways of filming, outstanding performances: this movie is gold. Stunningly painful, horrid and true. Revenge seems to be a favorite subject of study to Chan-Wook, and by this movie I only can imagine what lead him to debate about it in a such scathing way. I'm not sure if I'll see his other films, though, at least for a time. I'm still trying to be ok after this one, a gut punch that is hard to recover from.

Oldboy (Oldeuboi). Directed by Chan-Wook Park. With: Min-Sik Choi,
Ji-Tae Yu, Hye-Jeong Kang. Writers: Chan-Wook Park et al. from the
comics by Nobuaki Minegishi. South Korea, 2003, 120 min., Dolby Digital,
Color (DVD).

PS: There's an US remake of this movie with Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen, but by the comments it is no good at all. 

PPS: Parce que moi je rêve, moi je ne le suis pas... Because I dream, I am not... One of the most, if not the most shocking movie I've seen also a favorite of mine. After the final scene of Léolo, a 1992 Canadian production, the whole cinema was paralyzed. No one moved, freezed in front of such a knockdown. However, Oldboy is one step higher on the tragic shocking factor, something that I wouldn't think possible.