D V D C R Y P T

SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE

Directed by Park Chan-wook
Written by Lee Moo-young, Lee Jong-yong & Park Ridame
Produced by Lee Jae-soon
Cast: Song kang-ho, Shin Ha-kyun, Bae Du-na & Lim Ji-eun

2002/121 mins/Color/DTS
2.28:1 anamorphic/Korean/Korea/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Tartan Video DVD

After missing work too many times, Shin looses his job at the factory. He's deaf-mute and has to take care of his ill sister who badly needs a kidney transplant. With no work or money, he decides to have his kidney removed by a clandestine gang of organs traders but ends up loosing more then he bargained for. His girlfriend Yong-Mi, which is a self-proclaimed social activist, finds a way to make some "easy" money... all they would have to do is to kidnap a kid from a wealthy family and ask a ransom.

Everything seems to be working fine, they get the money from the father, Don-jin, and even manage to build a relationship with the kid making her think that they are friends of her father and that they are infact babysitting her! But then things takes a dramatic turn and everything goes wrong... everyone will seek to avenge the tragedy and misfortune others inflicted upon them.

With the International success of his OLD BOY, it was only a matter of time before this dark, haunting, touching and deeply disturbing film would make its way here. Unexpected plot twists, graphic violent moments and a complex structure rises this film above the rest. This is one film you'll have to see and experience by yourself to truely understand.

Tartan Video released SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE on DVD. The film is presented in a superbly transfered 2.28:1 aspect ratio and anamorphic. The color are beautifuly rendered and almost pefectly saturated. Surprisingly, the image is even better then the Korean CJ Entertainment edition released a few years ago. The DTS and 5.1 Dolby Digital audio tracks sounds great, no complains here either. There is also a very good 2.0 Dolby Surround track. The film is in Korean but we have the option of easy to read removable white English or Spanish subtitles. One of the best transfer coming from Tartan Video.

They have included a couple of cool extras. First of all, there's a very interesting commentary track with director Park Chan-Wook and he's joined by another director, Seung-wan Ryu. Park goes into all the details behind the making of his masterpiece. I learned a lot of cool stuff from it, especially that at the beginning the movie was to be called THE DESTROYED MAN. The commentary track is in Korean but features English subtitles. Next is a few scenes from Park's lady movie, the much anticipated SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE. We also get the Tartan trailer for SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE along with trailers for other Tartan releases such as OLD BOY, H and SPIDER FOREST. There's also a 'Photo Galelry' which consist mostly of stills from the movie. The 'Behind the Scenes' mentioned on the package is nowhere to be found! The movie is separated in 17 chapters, comes in a keep case which itself is in a cardboard slipcover with a 4 pages booklet and features nice animated menus.

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