Having become a huge fan of Asian movies of all kinds throughout the years, I was eagerly looking forward to seeing Oldboy, that received the audience award at this year’s Cannes film festival. Although extensively promoted as Quentin Tarantino’s favorite film of the festival, Oldboy has a right and the power to stand on its own and doesn’t need the recommendation, let alone approval of Tarantino. The trailer may suggest a large amount of (at times senseless) horror and outbreaks of violence, but there is more than meets the eye, because behind it is a story that brings along a great deal of comprehension and emotion.

Dae-su Oh is kidnapped and held captive for fifteen years at, what eventually turns out to be, an improvised prison. We get to see Dae-su slowly become mad and delusional and when he finally manages to free himself, he is determined to find the person who kidnapped and imprisoned him and, most importantly, find out why he was led to believe he had killed his lover.

What is most appealing about Oldboy is that it initially starts as quite a funny movie. But very soon, after we follow Dae-su throughout his fifteen years of deprivation of freedom, the tone of the movie intensifies and as a viewer you unvoluntarily get sucked into Dae-su’s psychotic escapes from reality. Even more mind-blowing are the scenes after Dae-su’s release. He meets Mi-do at the Japanese restaurant where she works (where Dae-su devours a living squid) and she takes him home and takes care of him. With her help, Dae-Su decides to find the one responsible for his fifteen-year blackout. And on his quest, he does whatever it takes to reach his goals.

Korean director Chan-wook Park confronts us with a raw, realistic take on the life of Dae-su, and with subtle digital techniques and a lot of humor we get to watch Dae-su’s mystery unravel. Although you might get the impression from watching the trailer that there is a lot of violence in Oldboy, the violence is, in fact, quite well dosed and not as jagged as for instance Japanese director Miike Takashi would have approached it.

This is a film you either love or hate – a compromise doesn’t seem possible. It is, however, very important to bear in mind that Oldboy considers violence a way for the main character to reach his goals, rather than regarding it as a goal in itself. This also shows by the fact that, rather than slapping the viewer in the face with gore, much of the violence isn’t shown fully on-screen. Actor Min-sik Choi who plays Dae-su, shows some really good acting and lost 20 pounds for his role. He does all of this with an admirable compassion. All is accompanied by an amazing emotional and catchy soundtrack, that might seem to collide with the heavy themes of the movie, but essentially underlines the emotional structure and nature of Oldboy.

In short: don’t see this if you are determined to see how a living squid is being eaten. Go see it if you are able to look behind the (tamed) violence to see a truly magnificent story about how a man seeks revenge and, more important, finds out why he has met his fate.

Directed by: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Min-sik Choi (Dae-su Oh), Ji-tae Yu (Woo-jin Lee), Hye-jeong Kang (Mi-d0)
Runtime: 120 minutes
Release dates: US: 4 February 2005, UK: 15 October 2004, The Netherlands: 12 November 2004
Official Website

Also interesting: to hear some of the tracks of the amazing soundtrack click here (you will be directed to the official Russian Oldboy website)

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