Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan geumjassi), the third installment in the Park Chan Wook Vengeance Trilogy, is a much different take on the concept of revenge. Just when I thought all hope was lost for solid, vengeful female performances, along comes Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’s (Lady Vengeance for short) Yeong-ae Lee (JSA), as Geum-ja Jee, to kick some ass. A very different movie than its predecessors, Lady Vengeance is about vengeance from a female perspective based off of a kidnapping much different from the types in Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.
After a 13-year imprisonment for the kidnap and murder of a 6 year old boy, Won-mo, beautiful Lee Guem-ja starts seeking revenge on the man that was really responsible for the boy’s death. With the help of fellow inmates and reunited with her daughter, she gets closer and closer to her goal. But will her actions lead to the relief she seeks? (IMDB)
Let me premise this by saying that I went into this movie with high standards after watching Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance two days prior to this viewing. In short, the movie almost matched my high standard, while not fulfilling every last bit of desire I had anticipated, this movie sure did fulfill its vengeful promise in an admirable way.
As for the story, this was another original take on the crime of kidnapping and vengeance. The main difference is that while Guem-ja was part of the Won-mo kidnapping, she did not kill him but was seen with the child and so became suspect, the man she was working with kidnapped her daughter so that she would go to prison instead of him. Luckily, the daughter was given up for adoption but lost her opportunity to be a mother and ended up wasting 13 years of her life in prison. I really enjoyed this story but unfortunately it was at a much slower pace than the prior Vengeance movies which means you really need to have some patience. Take note, there is a reason behind this slow tempo as I will describe in the following paragraph.
There are a few differences between Lady Vengeance and the other two Vengeance movies. The main differences lie within the actual characters of the story and the story itself. Guem-ja is cold, calculated, and intelligent throughout the movie. She is very decisive and plans all of her revenge out thoroughly, without making any mistakes in the process. In the other movies, everything is spontaneous, reckless, and messy which results in some crazy finales. Additionally, Lady Vengeance is a much more emotional film in the sense that you, as well as Guem-ja, have trouble deciding what this revenge is worth and will it make everything better in the end? She is a distraught and mentally confused wom
an that seems to have lost all of her passion and beauty resulting in emotionless relationships that seen to be wearing down on her. This process was much longer than it was for the men in the other two movies after the initial kidnapping and is the reason why the tempo is so much slower in this final film.
The last few things I want to discuss are the mood, the cinematography, and the scenery choices. Throughout the movie there is a constant mood of disparity from at least one of the characters on screen, whether it is Guem-ja or not. If you combine this sorrow with the fantastic shots, lighting, and sound, as well as the overall environment you get this feeling of coldness, grief, which progresses into a heated revenge. Much of the film is dark and matches the personality of our protagonist. The use of snow, fog and darkness helps portray the emotions of Guem-ja and possibly foreshadows the things to come. The color red is boldly prevalent throughout the entire movie and is clearly expressive of the blood that has been and will be spilt. At the same time, the use of the clean, white snow is used as a symbol of purity and how the kindhearted Guem-ja still exists somewhere underneath the layer of cold vengeance, ice-like makeup, and blood-red eyeliner.
Overall, Lady Vengeance was another terrific Vengeance film. While it was not my favorite, it delivered a whole new perspective on vengeance in a way that I have never seen. Yeong-ae Lee’s acting was stupendous! I have never been so captivated by a female killer than with her in this film. I highly recommend this movie and would never suggest pissing any women off like the one in this movie. It’s like they say, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Rating: A cold, calculated, and emotional tale of slow and heated vengeance
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