Oldboy . . . yeah, fashionably late
Let me get the basic introduction out of the way first. Oldboy is a South Korean film based on a Japanese manga, un-coincidentally title Old Boy. It’s a 2003 film that, according to wiki, was well received when it was show at the 2004 Cannes film festival.
The wiki article has a fairly good plot synopsis. I’m sure that there are also detailed analysis of this movie on the net. Needless to say, in internet years this film is ancient. I’ll avoid simply giving a summary of events in favor of talking about a few scenes that I will probably remember from this viewing.
I found myself eagerly awaiting some free time that would allow me to sit and watch this film uninterrupted. It is interesting that a film with a major plot element being a fifteen year imprisonment doesn’t really stress the lost years angle. Dae-su is taken away from everything he knows and in the blink of an eye the audience is transported to the future. The drunk weak man we saw at the start of the film is now a hardened monster.
We do experience his captivity to the extent that we know it happened. The viewers are given the chance to see the progression into the form that will be the Dae-su for the majority of the plot. They do not get the chance to empathize with the human aspect of his imprisonment. In some ways it is almost comical how his capture is expressed. If this were a movie about the depths and variations of the individual then it wouldn’t make much sense. However, this isn’t a film setting out to examine the human condition. It is a film about vengeance and pain. Aside from the occasional bit of humor the film doesn’t deviate too much from this theme.
There are a few scenes that were memorable mostly due to sock value. That is not to imply that the movie doesn’t keep the viewer entertained. It does a very good job of not getting boring.
Give me something alive:
Dae-su walks into a restaurant and orders “something alive.” This particular scene isn’t notable simply because he is eating a squid (I think) that is still moving around. As far as I know that isn’t too unusual. It is the vigor with which he begins to digest the small creature. A single bite and the head is removed. He pauses as if to recover from taking too much out of the slimy thing. Its tentacles flail about his mouth and hand as they instinctively/unconsciously attempt to aid in an escape. It is too late. It is dead; it just doesn’t know it yet.
I thought the scene was a good metaphor for the situation where Dae-su had found himself. He was still part of someone else’s game. He was the squid in the hand of someone very much capable of devouring him.
Tongue scene:
There is no way that I could talk about lasting scenes from this movie without talking about the tongue scene. Unlike the squid scene this doesn’t really have any abstract meaning. It is a direct act of penance for his actions. He is offering retribution to the man who believes he had wronged him. Even though it is quite evident that Dae-su’s actions were almost innocent or without malice.
The tongue scene is simply shocking. It happens so quickly that it doesn’t give the viewer much time to react. The audience doesn’t get a chance to feel it until well after the event, after it is apparent that it is over. Dae-su’s entire body shakes in pain and agony as he is given totally to submission. Many will disagree with me. One has to watch the scene twice to understand what I’m talking about. The first time the audience is unsure if Dae-su can do it, so the impending event is not as strong while still being shocking. It is so easy to imagine that particular physical pain that the second viewing is a slow motion torture.
This is all part of a larger scene that encompasses the final show down between Woo-jin (the captor) and Dae-su (the captured). It is finally at this point that Dae-su has lost. He is truly a half dead animal ready to be eaten. You could say that Woo-jin wins in the end. In actuality, that could be debated.
Oldboy is a story about vengeance and pain. It begs the question, if there is no true good that can come from seeking retribution for wrongs done then why do we do it? The path of reprisal turned two men into monsters. Can it be explained as human nature? Are we geared for self destruction?
Perhaps.
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I also saw this movie quite late - a couple of months ago, in fact. One of the scenes I found very memorable was the hammer scene, with such beautiful yet beastly cinematography. And, without a doubt, the squid scene. Also, the shot with Mi-do wearing the wings sent me such ghastly realizations, which I still can’t shake off even today. The film questions the issue of taboo and civilization in general, where sometimes the smallest thing that we do can greatly change the life of another. It’s quite brilliant.
Indeed, the hammer scene was well executed. I particularly like how they positioned the camera as if they were fighting in a tube. It was a bit side-scroller video game~ish. I took the “animals in an enclosed space” angle when interpreting the symbolism there.
I had almost forgotten about the wings. I had intensionally taken two scenes that happened at the beginning and end of the movie. Many of the story elements have roots stemming from the very beginning such as the wings, which appeared in the first scene.
That element seems to play multiple roles, now that I think about it. They are the proverbial salt on the wound, given the knowledge that we know she is his daughter already. Yet, the wings symbolize innocents. Also, that couple of seconds is rather humorous as well with her attempting to flutter the pair of feathers while sitting alone, bored.
I just don’t get the tongue scene. Woo-Jin never deserved a bit of respect to begin with, then he blew Dae-Su’s rumor out of proportion, and took 15 years of his life away for it. That Dae-Su would show any bit of respect for Woo-Jin is unthinkable… and yet he’s willing to make that kind of sacrifice as some sort of penance, for what Woo-Jin mistakenly percieves as a terrible wrong? Ridiculous. I was waiting for it to somehow be a trick, like he only cut his tongue open to make it bleed. The only explanation can be that Dae-Su was completely mad by that point.
Matt - “The only explanation can be that Dae-Su was completely mad by that point.”
I have no doubt that Dae-su was a bit crazy by this point in the movie. I think that was the characterization made throughout. It wasn’t as much that Dae-su became a “bad-ass” as much as it was that he was an animal of sorts.
While Dae-su didn’t seek redemption, the story sought it for him. It is at this point in the movie he finds that he and his daughter had been hypnotized to not recognize each other (that’s why they didn’t know each other in the restaurant). Woo-jin shows him a photo album of his family and daughter, which brings back his memory. Woo-jin then threatens to show the same to Dae-su’s daughter in order to bring back her memories as well. It is this realization that makes Dae-su grovel for forgiveness even though he has nothing to be sorry about.
BTW, for those that didn’t see the movie (yet), there is a very good reason why he doesn’t want his daughter to remember. It has to do with…best just watch the movie.