OLD BOY

Directed by Park Chan-wook
Produced by Lim Seung-yong & Kim Dong-ju
Based on the Comic Strip by Tsuchiya Garon & Minegishi Nobuaaki
Written by Hwang Jo-Yu & Im Jun-Hyeong
Director of Photography Park Hyun-Wo
Cast: Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jeong, Ji Dae-han, Oh Dal-su, Kim Byeong-ok, Kim Su-hyeon, Lee Seung-jin & Yun Su-kyeong

2003/120 mins/Color/DTS
2.35:1 anamorphic/Korean/Korea/NTSC Region 3

Review from the ShowEast DVD

On a rainy night, Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is kidnapped and held capitive in a private dark cell. The kidnapper assasinated his wife and put out clues that incriminated him. He doesn't know what happened to his daughter. The only thing that gives him some company is a television set. It soon becomes his sources of information about the outside world, his entertainer, friend... and lover. Every day he is fed with the exact same fried dumplings. And even though he tries, there's is no way to escape this closed, cold hell.

Fifteen years later they set him free. Oh Dae-su's captor have given him a goal, a will to live... to find out why and who did all this to him. Soon he starts to think of everyone he might have hurt or caused troubles in his previous life. Through the whole film, Oh Dae-su gives a running monologue explaining all that is happening in the world and in his mind. He soons meets a young female sushi chef, Mido (Kang Hye-jeong) who helps him to find the man responsible for robbing him of a decade and a half of his life. The deeper and closer Oh Dae-su gets to his goal, the more involving the story gets... a story you will have to see for yourself.

Make no mistake about it, OLD BOY is a film about revenge. Once again, Park Chan-wook has created a little masterpiece. Its virtuoso story, haunting cinematography, ambient score, amazing performance from the cast and the shocking and unbearable truth at the end make it one of the year's best. The film also features what has to be one of the most evilish character ever put on celluloid, Evergreen. The film features so many key scenes that one could analyse shot by shot the whole film and find something new everytime. One of the highlight is without a doubt the fight in the hallway, truely brutal and gut-wrenching yet breathtakingly beautiful. In the end, OLD BOY will reach you like no other film did before... it is that powerful.

"Laugh and everyone will laugh. Cry and you will be all alone".

ShowEast present the film is its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The image is enhanced for 16x9 television and features a simply stunning transfer with rich, vibrants and nicely saturated colors. There is no imperfection whatsoever. There is three different Korean audio tracks available, DTS, 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0 Dolby Surround. All of them are nicely mixed and crystal clear. OLD BOY is a rather quiet film but when there's action the audio really kicks in. We get easy to read removable English subtitles. The film is separated in 24 chapters and features some nicely designed animated menus with music.

The second disc is jam packed with extras; 'Vicious Feedback' features the original score and music video. 'Music Channel' is the original soundtrack of the film playing with the specific scene from the film, there's 10 songs in total. In 'Documentary' we first get a Making-of with the auditions, characterizing, hunting, reading and crack in. In the Audition segment we see some of the girls that tries for the role of Mido, Choi Min-sik and Park Chan-wook talk about the casting. There is also the Press Conference. In Characterizing, we see Choi Min-sik training for the various fights in the film. We also follow the actor palying the vilain training. Kang Hye-jeong talks with the press and we see how she learned to cook sushi. In Hunting, we see how and where the director searched for locations. We find all of the cast for the Reading of the script. In Crack In, we see how everything was arrange and fixed for the film. Also some of the cast and crew are interviewed. In 'Promotion' we get the trailer, which you should not watch before seeing the movie, the teaser trailer, tv spot and the music video for "Bring my Love". Finally, we get a postal card of the film. Both disc comes in a very nice digipack-like packaging which are in a cardbox. Yet again, this is an amazing edition coming from Korea but there is no subtitles for any of the extras, a shame really.

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Review by Kim Dubuisson. All Right Reserved. 2004. ©

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