I just saw it, and can't really say that it was an enjoyable experience. I went into the film, expecting it to be really good, but alas, I had trouble keeping my attention towards the last hour. I don't really feel I got anything out of the movie either. And don't just say something like "U just no get it". If you don't think I got it, explain why you got it instead.
shareI thought it was a good film because it had a great almost Shakespearean story, top-notch directing and some excellent performances from the lead actors. I'm not sure what there is to get either as the plot is fairly direct compared to some of his other films.
shareMaybe you should have went to see Transformers 2 in Imax 3d instead? Or how about watching The Avengers in Real 3d? Those movies require absolutely NONE of your attention, and absolutely no intellect or logical reasoning to understand. Maybe you shouldn't put your brain under so much stress.
shareI knew I would get some pretentious A-hole commenting on this. I like "good" movies. I loved Oldboy, and I watch a lot of Asian movies, because of the story, culture and the performances, not to mention the music. But this movie just wasn't enjoyable. Things like that retard hanging out at the river just made me dislike it.
Oh, and I bet you love "Dancer in the Dark" eh?
I'm with you, there.
This, being a fairly straight forward crime story, there is no reason for Park to eschew such standard story telling techniques as introducing characters. Why do I have to sit for ten minutes wondering what's happening, or who a particular character is, or if I'm supposed to know such things. This doesn't reflect the experience of the characters in the movie--they know who each other are--so what does this accomplish?
This film isn't meant to be enjoyable as it is a tragic film with a moral lesson on vengeance vs justice. It is supposed to resonate with you and make you think on what one thinks is cool vs what is right. But it has been 9yrs and I imagine you've matured since you made the post, try rewatching it.
It was the same with me with The Godfather films, when I saw it at 10 I did not get it vs when I rewatched it at 17. Another is Plein Soleil.
This movie isn't that deep. It's just people caught up in a bad series of events doing horrible things to each other and getting revenge on one another. No more deeper than the Avengers. What intellect does it take to understand this? This movie is simple.
shareBoth those movies were infinitely better than Mr vengeance, it's painful to watch the cretin in this movie and at the point he got the small girl killed I stopped watching, it was like a watching a series of horrible events and not having any decent storyline to justify watching it.
I understand it wants to be gritty and realistic, but I think enough children get killed every day in real life, and I don't need to see it happen on film, especially in such a pointless and sadistic way.
I agree with the guy above; Oldboy was amazing, and I've seen many Chinese films, and a few Korean, but this was unwatchable for me. I'm getting fed up with *beep* who think they're some kind of critic because they watche arty Korean films like this and cite transformers like all the other ass wipe wannabe's as being a film with poor acting and depth. People like Transformers and Avengers, look at the box office gross, we don't have to watch meaningful, intelligent films all the time, read a few books if you need that much stimulation.
...
Y'know I try not to be one who goes "Go watch Transformers" but to say that such a film is "infinitely better" than anything by Park Chan-wook...*shakes head* Seriously?
I mean I can agree to disagree on something like Avengers because that film is good for what it is, but Transformers?
And for what it's worth, we don't watch "arty Korean films" to feel superior, we watch them because *gasps* they're actually good.
The movie is good for a lot of reasons. The directing, first and foremost, was brilliant. I've never in my life seen a director capture such an organic feeling and atmosphere in his shots. The performances are equally incredible. The main character (Ryu) conveys his emotions perfectly without saying a single word throughout the entire movie.
Mainly, though, I liked the story, and the way it was told. The film is about human beings doing TERRIBLE things to each other, yet despite the fact that their actions are so ugly, the movie is beautiful. That's what made this film so amazing to me: it recognizes that even the most monstrous of human emotions are inherently beautiful in their complexity.
ALSO, this movie recognizes the profundity of death, which most American does not. How many movies have you seen where people die and all we feel is "meh"? That's usually followed by a ridiculous happy ending where everyone forgets all the people that died and live happily ever after. SFMV isn't like that, it shows you first hand the chain reaction that violence has and how it affects people. Critics rip on this movie because its "excessively violent", which is total *beep* If anything, this movie respects death and violence more than most films do.
I'm fine with the fact that this movie isn't for everyone, or that it didn't impact other people the way it impacted me. The only thing that bothers me is when people can't differentiate between their opinion and quality. Like, when most people dislike a movie, they say its a "bad movie", and that drives me insane. Just because something doesn't appeal to you doesn't necessarily mean its "bad", you just don't like it. For example, I did not like Fight Club...at all, BUT, I can recognize that its a good movie. It works the other way around, too. Resident Evil, for example, is a TERRIBLE movie, yet I love it despite the fact that I know it sucks.
SO, I honestly don't mind the fact that people dislike this movie on the condition that they don't think its "bad" simply because they didn't like it. Not mad or anything, I know you didn't say it was bad, the post just kind of implied that it 'wasn't good', let's say, so I thought I'd express this thought as well. If that's not what you meant feel free to just ignore this paragraph, and the last one, lol.
ANYWAY, hope that shed some light on other perspectives for you. This film honestly blew me away, so I'm always eager to talk about it and trying to get others interested.
It is a movie that pulls you apart. By the end even the dad knows Ryu was a good guy that had a situation around him get out of hand.
Ryu was a good guy. Who was forced to take a hard job to take care of his sister. He was let go and through a string of bad decisions and bad luck was pushed into a corner. His plan might have been wrong but nothing terrible was to come of it. The girl was never scared. Never hurt. The dad was put through hell but he was supposed to get her back. Park himself was a hard working man who deserved his station in life. He himself knew Ryu was a good guy who he had to kill. The movie makes us make an impossible choice. Both of these men are innocent. Both of these men are backed into a corner. Both of these men are men we have to root for and root against.
The movie pulls you apart and doesn't compromise for anything less. It also ends rather perfectly.
Snap, Crackle...CALL AN AMBULANCE!
cause you don't like it!
shareThe cinematography and the acting is what makes it a great film, for me.
But, OP, I completely agree about the story. Maybe it was just my frame of mind, but I just could not follow what the hell was going on. It seems like the audience is left to interpret and infer a bit too much. Like, the scene when green-hair is putting his thumbprint on a paper... I didn't know until 20 minutes later that that was him being fired from his job.
I can't remember what else there was to go along with this point, but plenty of the movie seemed to be difficult to interpret based on me being American and not being knowledgeable about South Korean customs.
As for the actual story... again, very confusing. The movie jumped around a ton, guy had green hair, then regular hair, then a sister needs a transplant, then there's a rose, and this weird lady, then 10 million won, then waking up naked with his kidney gone, then "Oh yeah! Let's kidnap my boss's daughter!", then they kidnap her but she is in love with them or something, then she is crying because she wants the necklace... etc. etc.
I don't know how to explain it, but I agree with you OP. I think I was expecting the film to be a little more straightforward. And not "straightforward" in the "dumb American" sense of the term. Straightforward, as in something like Oldboy. I think to appreciate this film, it will take a couple viewings of extreme concentration, because the themes and plot points are much more implied and introspective than Oldboy.
Another thing I didn't like, to go along with the lack of clarity, is that it seemed like whenever anything crucial happened, I didn't realize how crucial it was until 10 or 15 minutes later when they reference that key event.
What I'd like to know is what's so special about the direction or cinematography. I found it plain and boring. Everything is minimalist from the shots to the drama and dialog. The camera rarely moved. There was rarely any striking or unique shots, interesting use of color, or anything that would make the movie stand out. I've seen a hundred other movies that have similar washed-out "style". This "style" is generic and commonplace. Great films stand out, not blend in.
Slow paced does not make a movie good. A movie that lacks depth is superficial regardless of how slow or fast or how many explosions it has. At least one with explosions has some entertainment value.
This movie was just OK in my books.
~ Observe, and act with clarity. ~
explosions does not equal entertainment value, it's not minimalist cinematography nor is it washed out.
shareIMO 'Memories of Murder' from just a year later uses "artsy" camera angles to much better effect.
This one just didn't work for me: somewhere between confusing, erratic and random.