Not to everyone's tastes, but if you have a strong stomach, OldBoy is sure to impress.
Oldboy (2005)
Rated: 18
Runtime: 2 hrs 25 mins
Theatrical Release: 15-10-2004
Synopsis: It would be a sin to reveal too much about this riveting and bizarre thriller from Korean director Chan Wook Park, except to say that it's about a man named Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing his captor's motives. When he is finally released, Dae Su... It would be a sin to reveal too much about this riveting and bizarre thriller from Korean director Chan Wook Park, except to say that it's about a man named Dae-Su (Choi Min-Sik) who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing his captor's motives. When he is finally released, Dae Su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and strangeness. His own quest for vengeance becomes tied in with romance when he falls for an attractive sushi chef (Gang Hye-Jung), who feeds him live octopus and who may or may not be involved with the bizarre mystery. This is all served up in a striking palette of purples and dark reds; oozing with post-neo-noir style, and stuffed with insanely malicious twists and turns. Choi Min-Sik is terrific in the lead, counterbalancing over-the-top hysterics with deadpan cool to run the gamut of Asian antihero traits. There are intense fight scenes (Dae Su's favorite weapon is a hammer), look-away moments of torture and self-mutilation, sex, and gallons of black humor. Not for the squeamish, but for those seeking something wholly original and daring, this cinematic entree is alive--it's hard to imagine a better slice of psycho-shock sensationalism. [More]
Genre: Foreign Films
Starring: Choi Min-Sik, Bo-Kyeong Kim, Yoo Ji-tae
DVD Info
Release:
Jun 11, 2007
Blu-ray Disc Features:
- Widescreen
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English, Korean
- DTS-HD master Audio Surround 6.1 Uncompressed - Korean
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX - Korean
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
- Disc 1: OLDBOY (Blu-ray Disc)
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - 1. Director's Commentary
- 2. Director and Cast Commentary
- 3. Director and Cinematographer Commentary
- Deleted Scenes - Deleted Scenes with Opional Commentary
- Trailer - Theatrical Trailer
- Disc 2: Standard Definition Bonus Disc
- 5-Behind The Scenes Documentaries
- Featurette - 1. Making The Film - The Cast Remembers
- 2. Production Design
- 3. The Music Score
- 4. CGI Documentary
- 5. Flashback.
- 6. 'Le Grand Prix At Cannes'
- Interview - Cast & Crew Interviews
- Trailers - Tartan Asia Extreme Trailers
Reviews
A dark and thrillingly horrible adventure into the realms of the unthinkable.
Kinetic and energetic, funny and more than a little insane, the film ingeniously gets us into the mind of its hero.
Full of insanely grand passions, bloodthirsty violence and jet black comedy, it's a sadistic masterpiece that confirms Korea's current status as producer of some of the world's most exciting cinema.
As played by Choi Min-shik, Dae-su attains tragic stature. He's like a shaggy King Lear undone by his own foolishness.
Definitivamente no para todos los gustos, esta violenta y asombrosa película coreana promete convertirse en una de las verdaderas sorpresas del año.
Park has a strong visual style and a near-surrealistic noir touch, but unraveling the mystery scarcely repays sitting through his relentless rounds of gut-wrenching violence.
Este no es un filme para todo el mundo. Lo cual no es necesariamente algo malo.
Its tentacles are still wriggling in my memory, as if I just ate something that should never have been served in the first place.
That Park has talent in the technical department is a given; that he's a good filmmaker is debatable.
It's hard to make an argument for Oldboy based on anything other than pure cinematics, but when the style speaks this loudly, it's an argument worth making.
This is absolutely not a film for all tastes, but it's a masterpiece of pitiless power whose audacious, ambiguous climax strikes a note of insane romanticism as haunting as it is perverse.
Three couples were talking out loud as the film started. But before I could give them the traditional New York 'Shut the #%*& Up,' the movie shut them the #%*& up for me.
The buzz was right: Oldboy confirms Park as one of the best filmmakers working today.
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