OldBoy (2003) a violent Korean thriller with a powerful psychological twist about a man punished by his own words
A Korean masterpiece! OldBoy (2003) a violent and bloody thriller, with a powerful psychological mind-bending twist.
OldBoy (2003) is a South Korean neo-noir thriller movie directed and co-written by Park Chan-wook, starring Choi Min-sik in the leading role. This brutal and unconventional tale of punishment and revenge is an adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name.
Violent and bloody, the movie follows the drama of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), who is kidnaped and imprisoned in a room for 15 years for an unknown reason. As the story unfolds and we get closer to the end, the plot gets better and more unpredictable. A Korean masterpiece, at least to say.
Oldboy tries to capture in a though and atypical way a psychological question-reason very present in the reality of our life: What are the consequences of our words?
Based on “Old Boy” by Garon Tsuchiya
Hangul 올드보이 | Original title Oldeuboi
Directed by Park Chan-wook | Written by Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Jun-hyung, Park Chan-wook
Release date: 21 November 2003 | Running time: 2 hours
Facts
- Oldboy won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
- In South Korea, OldBoy ranks fifth as the highest-grossing movie of 2003.
- Even the “great” Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino bowed in front of this Korean movie.
- With a budget of $3 million, the Korean movie Oldboy (2003) grossed around $15 million worldwide.
- Oldboy ranks as the 2003 most-watched foreign-language movie on a non-BBC television channel in UK.
What’s the story?
“OldBoy,” tells the story of a businessman called Oh Dae-su who gets drunk on his daughter’s birthday in 1988 and ends up at the police station. His friend No Joo-hwan takes him out from there, and while he calls home from a phone booth, Dae-su disappears without any trace. Oh Dae-su finds himself locked up in a prison cell similar to a hotel room, with a bed, a desk, a television, and a bathroom, for 15 years.
When he finds out from the news that somebody killed his wife and blamed him, Oh Dae-su starts digging an escape tunnel with a pair of chopsticks. In these 15 years, our hero gradually evolves and changes dramatically.
Oh Dae-su struggles to keep his mind and body intact over the years, where the only way of survival is cultivation. Cultivation of memories (by writing his diary); cultivating the body (training and waiting for the day when to take revenge on those who imprisoned him); cultivating intelligence (by watching science shows on the TV);
what’s the story of the korean movie oldboy 2003 directed by park chan-wook
The movie Oldboy (2003) actually starts when the mystery stops. Before he can finish his escape tunnel and after 15 years, Oh Dae-su is suddenly released, given clothes, money, and a cell phone. 2003 is the year of his unexpected release, which finds Oh dae-su emotionally stunned but physically strong to uncover the secret of his imprisonment and find his captors in just five days. The thirst for revenge will unleash the madness within Oh dae-su.
His quest for revenge will entangle with romance, when he falls in love with an attractive young sushi chef, Mi-do. Nothing is as simple as it seems in this Koren movie. The love between Oh Dae-su and Mi-do will reveal its value and meaning later. The life Oh Dae-su left behind ( the murdered wife and a child) will appear in the most unexpected details and places. The smallest mistakes of the past might turn out to be bigger than they seemed, especially in the eyes of those in which these things had a certain significance.
Even though she appears later in the movie, the female character is as equally important as the main character. Mi-do became the significant person in Dae-su’s life, and this is what the end of the film shows us. Was fate to meet?
Main cast and characters of ”Oldboy (2003)”
Choi Min-sik portrays Oh Dae-su, the protagonist imprisoned for 15 years between 1988 and 2003. The Korean actor Choi Min-sik lost and gained weight for this role, depending on the script and shooting schedule. He trained for six weeks, and performed most of his own stunt work.
Kang Hye-jung portrays Mi-do, the young sushi chef with whom Dae-su fell in love. Uncovered by the end, her real identity represents the revenge itself which will be heartbreaking in many psychological manners.
Yoo Ji-tae portrays Lee Woo-jin, the man who imprisoned Oh Dae-su and suffered a loss without which there is no joy to live.
Oh Tae-kyung portrays the young Dae-su, who will cause misfortune in his adult life with his tongue.
Yoo Yeon-seok portrays the young Woo-jin, who didn’t think about the consequences of his actions.
Ji Dae-han plays No Joo-hwan, the best friend of Dae-su, who released him from the police station.
Kim Byeong-ok portrays Mr. Han: As bodyguard of Woo-jin, he doesn’t like violence, but he is quick and effective until one point.
Yoon Jin-seo plays Lee Soo-ah, Woo-jin’s sister.
OldBoy (2003) is part of a trilogy
OldBoy is the second movie of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and followed by Lady Vengeance (2005).
Remakes
Two remakes of OldBoy: an unauthorized 2006 Hindi movie and a 2013 American movie which received only bad reviews.
where to watch OLDBOY?
You can watch “Oldboy (2003)” on Netflix or on Amazon Prime Video, available with English subtitles.
More about OldBoy (2003):
Through this brilliant neo-noir film, the director Park Chan-Wook brings to the surface what is worst in human behavior. From pathological madness, violence, and the desire for revenge beyond the limits of the normal, unbridled sexual desire to the temptation of suicide.
Some of the sins are usual in Asian culture, traits that have been instilled in their character from an early age. The main ones pinpointed in this movie are revenge over a lifetime, self-mutilation as a gesture of penance, and suicide as a gesture of honor.
The Korean director gives the audience only a few hints about the motivation behind the plot and tries to visually shock through sequences immersed in madness, such as swallowing a live octopus and pulling out teeth with a carpenter’s hammer to the music of Vivaldi’s “Spring.”
