OldestBoy

I've heard about this Korean movie, so let's give it a go. It gets... weird.

A man is heading slowly on his way home, via the police station because he's kinda over drunk. His friend gets him out, but then the man disappears. He's locked up in a room for fifteen years, then suddenly he's released. And so begins his revenge streak to find out what happened to him. And along the way, he finds a woman to love. The reasons why are slowly unveiled, and in the last half hour... I am so not going to reveal any of that, except to say I didn't see that coming, and admire the movie for going there.

One of the main reasons I heard about this was the corridor fight, which is a side on view we have while the man fights his way past a crew of guys, in one long uncut shot. There's a lot going on there (although you can spot various moments where the blows aren't quite hitting, and a few moments where they give various actors time to catch their breath). It's a decent sequence, although I suspect there are a lot better sequences out of Korea these days.

The acting is decent, with the actor playing Woo-jin Lee (the nominal villain) probably having the best parts. Min-Sik Choi as the "hero" Dae-su Oh has a lot to do both physical and mental, and I can't imagine it was easy.

This is a part of a trilogy? Hmm, I might try to find the other two some day then. In the meantime, there's something else I have to watch...

[END]