Research - Oldboy

Oldboy is a South Korean mystery thriller directed by Park Chan-wook, who directed another one of my favourite films over the past few years; Stoker. The films is incredibly visually pleasing and I really enjoyed the style the film was made in. One of the reasons I like this film so much and why I wanted to include it as one of my research posts was because of the bizarre but intriguing story line that it has as well as the visceral and gritty violent nature of the film. The story like I mentioned before is actually quite strange, and felt to me almost like it became a tragedy in the Shakespeare style, as oppose to the mystery that it was laid out to be in the beginning. Furthermore whilst watching Oldboy I found that it ventured to emotional extremes, not not needlessly. It was quite refreshing in this sense as a lot of Western thrillers are created mostly for the shock factor or as a mechanism for building tension, this however was a carefully constructed plot. It is said that Korean cinema is one of the most creative in the world and this film really demonstrates this idea, with a complex and boarder line improbable series of events.

The ultimate themes in the film are punishment and vengeance which are heavily referenced throughout using explicit actions and dialogue to drive these ideas home to the audience. As a whole, I loved nearly every aspect of this film, I hadn't seen anything quite like it before hand and I haven't since. The dialogue from characters is quite deep and in some ways quite poetic. In a sense, the film is heavily influenced by humanity and the way that people can affect each other emotionally. Furthermore, there is a very evident psychological element to the film in regards to the audience and the way it interacts with them, it almost tests the audiences emotional limits with what they can withstand in certain scenes throughout the film. Despite the dark themes and some scenes being quite violent, the amount of violence in the film as a whole is quite low, and themes of self-indulgence and love do creep into the plot a lot more than is apparent to the audience at first. When it comes to Oldboy I can imagine a lot of people being put off by the shocking or disturbing elements it possesses, and although it is wonderfully confusing it somehow works well in drawing you into the intricate and farfetched plot line. There is a dark and gritty visual style to the film, that feels unique, it almost reminds me of a martial arts film produced in the 80's. Perhaps this almost comical style is influenced by the fact it was based off a comic book. Overall, this was one of my favourite films when I first watched it, and I could continue watching it over again.