Ginger Post

This is a review of the second film in Director Park Chan-Wook’s trilogy on revenge. If Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a simplistic yet unadulterated exchange of tit-for-tat revenge, his second film in the revenge trilogy examines the psychological complexities of revenge—for the avenger and the wrongdoer. That is the fundamental question the director asks and resolves in Old Boy. In this way, by exploring the psychological impact of revenge on the primary characters, Old Boy picks up where Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance left off.

The story begins with the mysterious kidnapping and confinement of Oh Dae-Su by Lee Woo-Jin. For fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is forcibly detained in a private detention center run by gangsters (7.5 floor industries). He passes the time by watching television, practicing the art of fighting, and writing a journal of evil deeds while subsisting on a daily diet of fried dumplings. He attempts to figure out whom he might have offended or slighted throughout his life in order to make sense of his confinement. And just as enigmatically as he was confined, he is suddenly released after fifteen years. He has five days to unravel who put him there.

The influence of classic Western literature on the director is obvious, in particular Kafka. The scenes of Dae-Su trying to engage the private jail keeper in a conversation to discern the reason for his confinement and his expected release date is reminiscent of Kafka’s man before the law. The scene of an enlarged ant on its back in the subway, again, points to a cinematic interpretation of Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Finally, where intra-familial sexual relations are hinted at but never brought to fruition in Kafka’s writings, Director Park masterfully tells the story of revenge through deliberate and unwitting incest.

Although the viewers follow the life of Oh Dae-Su, two stories emerge toward the end, as viewers are introduced to Woo-Jin. Both characters are motivated by the desire for revenge; their pursuits parallel one another, but are connected by one question, which is the main question the film seeks to answer. Oh Dae-Su and Woo-Jin both ask this question of themselves in the film, and at the end they provide an answer: Can I go back to being the same person once my revenge is completed? Put another way, can the psychological and personality changes that accompany intense desire and planning for revenge be turned back once the revenge is completed? The answer is a resounding no. Dae-Su has thought of killing the person who robbed him of his life for fifteen years; Woo-Jin has spent his entire life orchestrating the punishment he will inflict on Dae-Su. Director Park shows that revenge is teleological.
Revenge becomes a part of one’s psyche: it consumes and alters a person’s way of viewing reality and his place in it. For both characters, the quest for revenge has become like glue holding their tenuous grip to reality; it is the justification for their continued existence, despite having lost the most important possession in their respective lives. Woo-Jin loses his sister (and his lover) as a result of Dae-Su’s indiscretions; Dae-Su loses his family, friends, and fifteen years of his life as a result of Woo-Jin’s fierce determination to get even.

Given the importance of revenge in the psychological homeostasis of both characters, the resolution they choose once revenge has been achieved is not surprising. There is no glue in the world that will reattach what they have lost and sacrificed in the name of revenge. The true hero of the movie is not Oh Dae-Su as the director wants the viewers to believe. That distinction belongs to Woo-Jin, for he loves despite the prohibitions; Dae-Su loves, but has to wipe out his memory to be able to do so. If Dae-Su was a hero, he would have chosen a similar path as Woo-Jin.
Some viewers might have trouble with the gratuitous use of violence. The tooth extraction scene makes viewers shudder and places an additional reason for procrastinating a trip to the dentist. The scissor scene may be viewed as overkill, an unnecessary use of violence to achieve a point that has already been made. However, this scene again illustrates the influence Western thought has had on the director. That is, the scene is classic Greek tragedy; the scene is reminiscent of Oedipus who blinds himself upon discovery of what he has done. Since the harm begins with Dae-Su’s tongue, it is only appropriate that he remove the cause of his folly. Old Boy is the story of Oedipus Rex reversed. The director is thus not using gratuitous violence. He is using a classic Greek tragedy set in modern day Korea.

Chosen as the Jury Prize winner in the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, and as the mimetic source of motivation for Cho Seung-Hee (Virginia Tech mass murder) the film is well worth viewing.