The film that put Korea truly on the world cinema stage, Park’s Oldboy truly is a truly superb. Balletic scenes of violence have a harsh poetry too them, the standout sequence has our protaganist takinc on twenty assailants in acorridor armed only with a claw hammer, in one superbly chorerographed take he literally hammers them all....

ABOUT

Oh Dae Su, played by Min-Sik Choi in fine shabby chic style, is drunk and late for his daughter’s birthday party. If that’s not bad enough, someone from his past has set in motion a revenge plot so disturbing, it would break the average man. Oh Dae Su is drugged and wakes up in a fortified hotel room with no escape. He is fed and clothed and given a TV to pass the time, but with no clue as to his captor, all he can do is train his body and mind for retribution. For fifteen years (!) he is a prisoner, alternately suicidal and violently angry, until one day he is free, awaking on a rooftop with a tailored suit, a wad of cash and terrible hair.

Torture and live octopuss eating

Slowly but surely, Oldboy hunts, tortures and hammers his way to the horrifying truth about his captivity, and is forced to confront a long-forgotten memory from his childhood. Notorious for its live octopus-eating scene, dental torture and a seemingly unending fight in a corridor, Oldboy rightly deserves its place in the Asian cinema hall of fame. As a meditation on revenge, actually part of a trilogy, Oldboy is unsurpassed, and highly recommended for fans of extreme cinema.

FACTS

Oldboy is the second installment of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (which we are showing on Sunday 29 May) and followed by Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

The film won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and high praise from the President of the Jury, director Quentin Tarantino

 "It says something when you come out of a film as weird and fantastical as Oldboy and feel that you've experienced something truly authentic. I just don't know what. I can't think of anything to compare it to." - LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Intense and dark but also humorous and moving, this is an ambitious film that fulfils its promise, despite an arguably overly protracted denouement. Excellent." - FILM 4

"Full of insanely grand passions, bloodthirsty violence and jet black comedy, it's a sadistic masterpiece that confirms Korea's current status as producer of some of the world's most exciting cinema." - BBC

"Whether chomping down on a live octopus (in one of several scenes that require a strong stomach) or festering with half-crazed rage and impotence, Choi gives a bravura performance that powers the picture." - VARIETY

"Oldboy is a powerful film not because of what it depicts, but because of the depths of the human heart which it strips bare." - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

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