Oldboy

views updated

Oldboy ★★★★ 2003 (R)

Winner of the 2004 Cannes Grand Jury Award, this Korean thriller takes the emotionally charged terror of a David Fincher film and multiples it by a factor of ten. After a drunken evening, Oh Daesu (Choi, in a brilliant performance) awakens to find himself trapped inside a small room, barred from escape by a thick steel door. Oh spends the next fifteen years in captivity, with no explanation ever offered from his jailers. With no warning, Oh—now half crazy from isolation and his thirst for vengeance—is suddenly freed and a mysterious figure gives him five days to figure out why he's been imprisoned. Park should be applauded for his vicious, unflinching insight into human sexuality and violence in this sad, surrealistic mystery. 120m/C DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD . KN Min-Sik Choi, Yu Jitae, Hyejeong Kang; D: Park Chanwook; W: Park Chanwook, Hwang Joyun, Lim Junhyeong; C: Jeonghun Jeong; M: Yeong-wook Jo, Shim Hyeonjeong, Lee Jisu, Choi Sung-hyeon.