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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Imagine a Hitchcock thriller
crossed with Raymond Chandler's "Farewell My
Lovely" with a twist of David Lynch thrown in for
good measure and you'll get an idea about how
inventive, startling and powerful "Old Boy" is.
Chan-wook Park's film dazzles with stunning
imagery but more importantly with a brilliantly
subversive mystery at its core. Oh Dae-Su is
kidnapped after a celebratory night. He was headed
home for his young daughter's birthday when he
disappears. When he wakes up he finds he's a
prisoner in a cut-rate hotel without windows and a
metal door. His meals are slid under the door to
him, his only companionship is a TV and his grip
on sanity begins to slip away after 15 years of
confinement. Suddenly, he's released without
explanation. He's given a cell phone, a wallet
full of money and 5 days to discover who
imprisoned him and why. Filled with rage when he
discovers that his wife was murdered and he was
framed for it, Oh Dae-Su tries to try down his
young daughter with the help of a sushi chef he
meets and gradually falls in love with. This
twisted, dark tale has more twists and turns than
a mountain road. Oh Dae-Su gradually unravels the
mystery, which stands at the heart of his
existence, but with each bit he unravels he
discovers more unanswered questions.
The image quality on this disc is extremely good
as is the sound. The film can be viewed in the
original Korean (although English is the default
language for the film) and there are subtitles,
which, amusingly, don't always match what the
English dubbed track has. Featuring a director's
commentary as well as deleted scenes (with
optional commentary) and theatrical trailers for
this film and others in the Tartan Asia Extreme
Cinema DVD releases, "Old Boy" like "Memento,"
will keep you guessing all the way to the
conclusion. If this were an ordinary mystery, I'd
say it would be worth viewing one time but the
dazzling directorial skill of Park and the strong
performances by the actors (as well as the well
written script) make this graphic, violent
suspense thriller worthwhile.
You'll be glued to your seat as you try and put
together the pieces of the puzzle about why this
ordinary man's life is taken apart and, more
importantly, why he has to put together the pieces
of the mystery to regain his life again. Highly
recommended. |
