stoker (2013). directed by chan-wook park.

by regular chan-wook park standard, this film is mild. by regular hollywood standards though, this is pretty violent of the sadistic kind. 

i like his attention to details and the photography direction. it made us aware of how sensitive india stoker is to her surroundings, something that gives a clue to her predatory instincts. acting and direction are great - all three central characters are weird enough to exist in chan's universe of gothic family - my only complain is - the script is in wanting of greater, deeper motivations - something that chan's films often use as bait to keep the audience begging for each coming scenes. 

sympathy for lady vengeance (2005) (chinjeolhan geumjassi (original title)). directed by chan-wook park.

chan-wook park's third installment of his vengeance trilogy is just as explosive as oldboy (2003). personally  i find this film more satisfying than the oldboy, simply because it ends with in a positive note. i love its beautiful shots and the layered story telling of this movie. you will not look at korean women the same way after watching this. so, just beware.  

oldboy (2003). directed by chan-wook park.

my brother had been urging me to watch this movie for years but i always have a reason to deflect his request. one of them is that, i associated korean movies with the k-pop phenomenon which i find inanely tasteless. i am past people dancing together in bright clothes, whatever. but he kept asking me, let's watch oldboy this saturday that i can't say no anymore.  

on the fly, i don't get the title. oldboy? means what? an old man? the film opens with a scruffy man, drunk on a work day  with a gift for his kid in his hands - the kind of losers you spot in offices that irritates the hell out of you. he didn't manage to pass the gift to her when he found himself locked up in a strange room, in a strange building, and who could have a problem with this blessed fool? he didn't expect to be imprisoned for 15 years and slowly lost his mind. while watching the movie, the question that kept popping in my mind is this - oldboy?

and the movie unraveled. of a taboo subject matter i hardly seen discussed in movies except for auteur european films that border pornographic (urgh, i've watched leos carax's pola x (1997) and hated it). who could have thought that incest, revenge and violence makes good drama, it takes this korean director to tell it as it is. the direction and characterization is great - you feel the pain of the imprisoned loser and the guy who imprisoned him. 

this film should not be shown as a saturday night family fare. you've been warned.