vengeance | Another Plot Device

Movie of the Day – I Saw The Devil

July 15, 2011 1 Comment

Well, if you know me well enough and have been reading my blog posts, then you know my love of Korean cinema and their love of wanton violence and emotion fueled rampages. I covered the Park Chan-Wook revenge trilogy and discussed about the suspenseful film Mother. There has been an emerging pattern in my selection of Korean films and they revolve around vengeance and violence. I wrote three long posts about vengeance and the emotion drive that overtakes the characters and today’s post is no different from the previous posts. I Saw The Devil is brutal film to watch. Not in the sense that the subject matter is difficult, but emotional gut punch you get when watching two actors vehemently amp up the violence towards one another in each scene. The film is rough and gritty to watch, but such a gorgeous movie that plays with this cat and mouse scenario, only if the cat and mouse each have the ability to wield giants knives and outright attack one another. Let’s setup the story first before I dive into the subtext of the movie and why I seem to love violent, revenge driven flicks.

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Filed under Movies Tagged with korean cinema, movie of the day, movies, revenge, vengeance, violence

Movie of the Day – Lady Vengeance

May 29, 2011 2 Comments

Now we come to the grand opus of the Movie of the Day revenge trilogy with Lady Vengeance. This is Park Chan-wook’s most operatic and grandiose movie. Out of all the movies in the trilogy, this is the prettiest looking movie of the group and one his best artistic endeavors. While not my favorite of the three, this is a crowning cap on the essence of revenge and the cycle of violence that happens. Before, I discussed that each movie centers around a different theme of revenge. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance dealt with revenge and the consequences of our actions when we want vengeance. Oldboy handle the idea of the revenge and the human condition, seeing how far a human being will go to exact revenge. Lady Vengeance is a story about redemption and salvation that comes from the act of revenge. Can one bury their past once the act of violence is complete? I think that this is the culmination of all the past themes of revenge and presented to us in a neatly wrapped package. Chan-wook gave us a look at revenge through the eyes of a female lead this time around and deep insight into the cold and calculating ways of a woman out for revenge.

Spoiler warning ahead of Lady Vengeance!

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Filed under Movies Tagged with korean cinema, lady vengeance, movie of the day, movies, Park chan-wook, revenge, vengeance

Movie of the Day – Oldboy

May 28, 2011 1 Comment

Well, this is part two of the three-part movie of the day posting and we continue with the 2nd of the vengeance trilogy. It should be noted that these three movies have no tie to one another and the only theme that they share is revenge. While Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was about the consequences for our actions, the revenge that we seek at all costs, Oldboy deals with the aspect of how far a human being is willing to go with vengeance. To what depths of the human soul can be fueled only by revenge and the toll that it takes on a person.

So now for the plot of the movie. It should be noted that there is a huge twist that takes place near the end of the movie, so the plot synopsis will be brief, but I will talk about the ending in the final portion of my article.

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Filed under Movies Tagged with movie of the day, movies, oldboy, Park chan-wook, revenge, south korean cinema, thriller, vengeance

Movie of the Day – Sympath for Mr. Vengeance

May 27, 2011 2 Comments

I have talked before about my general love of the revenge movie. Man on Fire was about exacting revenge when the thing that has given you a reason to love is stripped from you. That movie was a more in your face sort of revenge film with undertones of redemption. While the idea and theme of revenge in movies is not new, since you can find it in almost any movie out there, centering a movie on the central theme of revenge is interesting to me. To craft a movie where revenge permeates every characters motives and emotions, but also to tell a story about atonement, salvation and human limits.

There is a trilogy of movies out there that embody the aspect of revenge, but each movie in the trilogy has an underlying meaning to each of their movie. Park Chan-wook, a phenomenal South Korean director, created The Vengeance Trilogy, where each movies central theme is vengeance, but each tell a different tale of vengeance. In 2002, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance broke out into Korean theaters and made Park Chan-wook an essential power in the international cinema scene. This is the first of the trilogy and while not one of the more widely known of the trilogy, this is the start of something amazing.

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