They say there is a first time for everything, well my reaction after Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (Boksuneun naui geot – 2002) was definitely a first for me. Last night, I sat stunned for five minutes trying to decide who to actually sympathize with, no pun intended. The story, acting, and directing made it almost impossible for me to decipher who the actual protagonist was and who the antagonist was, leaving my ability to empathize equally split amongst the characters in the story.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the first movie in the Vengeance trilogy directed by the famous Park Chan Wook. His most popular work and second in the series is Oldboy, which happens to be one of my favorite movies, followed by the final movie, Lady Vengeance. I didn’t know what to expect when I popped this into my DVD player, but I did know that there was a good chance I would like it. Park Chan-wook’s direction made this movie special. The excellent camera work, the unique angles, and a perfect pace allowed this well developed drama to flow steadily. He also took this well written script, an original take on vengeance, and was able to split your mind into sections preventing you from taking sides as the movie progressed and the characters were developed. This was something that I truly have never experienced.
The story is based in Seoul and begins with a deaf worker named Ryu who is very close with his sister. His sister is sick and needs a kidney transplant but unfortunately his blood type does’t match and at the moment there is no donor to help his sister out. He decides to purchase an organ on the black market but as a result no longer has the money to pay for the surgery. After recently being fired from his job at Ilshin Electronics by Park Dong-jin, the owner,, Ryu’s anarchist girlfriend Cha Yeong-mi proposes that they kidnap their boss’s daughter and would like to use the ransom money to pay for the operation and compensation for being fired. After they kidnap Park’s daughter, Yoosun, things start to go horribly wrong sparking a chain reaction of violent and vengeful acts.
The acting was, in my opinion, top notch. I have yet to be disappointed with the cast in any of Chan-wook’s films. The film stars Kang-ho Song (Thirst, JSA) who plays Park, Ha-kyun Shin (Thirst, Lady Vengeance) who plays Ryu, Du-na Bae (The Host) who plays Cha. The two male leads have been in three movies together and it shows, they mesh together really well when they are actually on screen together. As for Du-na Bae, she nailed her role of the revolutionary, sexual, slightly devious and powerful girlfriend that would do anything for her boyfriend Ryu. The beauty about this movie is that the your given a lot of time to learn about the characters and actually understand them which allows the actors and actresses to stretch their acting wings and deliver a stellar performance.
Furthermore, the movie keeps you on your toes throughout the entire 128 minutes. Although it may seem like it is moving slowly, you realize that it actually makes sense even though everything picks up in the final act and is when you start to see some of the dirty investigations and grudge-like killings that we expect from Chan-wook’s films. One other piece of the film that you should pay attention to is the use of sound with the visuals. There are many times where there is not much visually but it is the use of sounds which create the imagery in our mind and makes some scenes much more emotional and gruesome. His style is original and is one of the reasons why he is praised by many around the world including Quentin Tarantino.
Overall, I loved this movie and thought it was very unique. For those of you that haven’t experience Park Chan-wook’s work then this is the one to start off with followed by the other two movies in the series. Fantastic acting, an original story, and superb directing make Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance a must see foreign film.
Rating: A grungy, occasionally very violent movie that will create a duality of empathy
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