Oldboy
The sixth stage of grief
Oldboy answers the question of what Koreans truly want. They want love—sweet, consoling love that wraps around you like a comforter—the kind Desdemona offered Othello. (“She gave me for my pains a world of sighs.”) But when that love is ripped away, they want revenge. They want to break their enemies in a dehumanizing way, crippling them both physically and psychologically. The desire for revenge is so strong they sacrifice everything to achieve it. And when they’ve reduced enemies to ash, they will want a final twist of the knife because there’s no such thing as enough revenge.
It was a revelation when I first saw Oldboy over 20 years ago now. Not because it made me realize that, as a Korean, I craved love and revenge like in that Lady Gaga song, but because I didn’t know Koreans could make movies like this. Previously, I’d only seen awful Korean movies and shows. My parents subsisted on trashy dramas where desperate bands of Koreans fleeing the North would invariably be forced to drug an infant so they could quietly pass the last checkpoint on their way to safety. In college, I took a date to see an arthouse period piece where, in the movie’s climactic scene, the Korean hero took an SAT-style exam to become a government official and mastered administrative law to save a young girl he seemed to appreciate mildly. I’d never seen a Korean movie—or really any movie—like Oldboy. It erupts with style and drama in the opening seconds and, somehow, doesn’t let up. It overflows with some of the grittiest fight scenes I’ve ever seen, yet simultaneously weaves a delicate, intimate mystery that demands resolution.
Oldboy begins with a transformation, focuses on revenge, and ends with another transformation. Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is a loud, alcoholic slob who is somehow also a prolific womanizer. On the way home, after a friend bails him out of the drunk tank, he is kidnapped and imprisoned in a windowless cell. He has a bed, TV, and a bathroom, but that’s about it. He receives meals through a slot. Occasionally, he’s gassed and, while unconscious, gets haircuts and housekeeping. (I realize this doesn’t sound half bad as I'm describing this.) Besides the imprisonment and solitary confinement, he isn’t mistreated. However, he’s trapped there for 15 years. During this time, he sees on the news that he’s been framed for the murder of his wife. He attempts suicide a few times, but his jailers patch him up each time.
After years pass and his rage and the hope of release subside, he writes in the notebooks provided by his jailers about the shitty way he lived. He has an awakening. For the first time, he feels remorse and recognizes the damage he’s done. He begins exercising and punching the wall, where he’s drawn a crude outline of a person. He watches boxing on TV and learns to fight. Dae-su’s transformation in this Motel 6-style prison feels realistic because it takes so long. He doesn’t transform during a montage the length of Eye of the Tiger. Dae-su is a stubborn caterpillar who requires 15 years to change from an out-of-shape, out-of-control drunk into an unstoppable golem.
During this time, Dae-su also chips away at his prison walls with a metal chopstick, but before he escapes, he’s set free. Once free, Dae-su can’t move on with what’s left of his life until he solves the mystery of who jailed him and for what crime. He needs revenge to close that chapter of his life. For Dae-su, revenge is the 6th stage of grief.
Watching this again was horrifying since I knew the repulsive mystery surrounding the characters. I recommend rewatching it if you’ve already seen it once; even after 20+ years, everything stands up. But whatever you do, please don’t watch the POS Josh Brolin remake.
Oldboy
Written by Garon Tsuchiya, Nobuaki Minegishi, and Park Chan-wook; Directed by Park Chan-wook
2003
120 minutes
Korean
Recommended way to watch (at time of publication): Netflix
You’ll like this if you like: Memento (2000)
I saw this a few years ago and the only thing I could recall was that it was fucked up, but also great. And different from anything I’d ever seen. Your review makes me want to see it again!