Lady Vengeance
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Movie Reviews of Lady Vengeance
Movie Review: The Life of Kind-Hearted Guem-Ja
Summary: 4 Stars
4 and 1/2 Stars.
The third and final film in Park Chan-Wook's 'Vengeance Trilogy' works both as an eccentric character study and a culmination of the themes and storylines of the previous entries. The first film, 'Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance', is clearly about the futility of revenge while the second, 'Oldboy', focuses on the hubris of revenge. This film differs from the others insofar as it explores the possibility that revenge may be a path towards salvation.
As a character study, 'Lady' works in clever ways. Without giving away any plot, the first section works against the audience, drowning out any narrative clarity by use of jarring editing, a constantly shifting time frame and the introduction of multiple side characters. These scenes are important, though, as they show us the exterior (or more shallow parts) of Guem-Ja's personality. The side characters are used in a similar fashion. Each side-character's story unveils the varying perceptions of Guem-Ja's personality, which in turn highlight more details of her character to the audience. In the second portion, Guem-Ja's shallow exterior slowly fades away as her past is revealed and her true colors begin to show. The film reveals why she had been so bipolar in the earlier portions - because she has been affected by certain events in her life and the guilt of her actions overshadows all of her virtues. The final act is the culmination of Guem-Ja's 'revenge plot' but there is a twist-she finds redemption, not necessarily through revenge but (without giving it away)having something to do with community and family. So, the film begins impersonally and slowly unfolds, letting the audience know Guem-Ja little by little (and almost no scenes are wasted, the majority of which reveal something crucial about the character).
The movie is far from realistic, though. Instead, it is infused with a kind of hyper-realism and heightened emotion, much like the feel of Greek tragedy or mythological fable. The trilogy seems to develop in this stylistic fashion (even the first seems grounded in reality but is only viscerally realistic; the motif of chance is too overbearing and results in a dismissive reflection of real life) and each film works to refine the last one as an extreme and modern parable using the notions of revenge. 'Lady Vengeance' is, in my opinion, the best of the three films. The first has a few unnecessary scenes and is slightly inconsistent. The second has a twist ending which seems slightly contrived in retrospect (don't attack me if you love Oldboy, I said slightly). This film doesn't try to be realistic and doesn't rely on a twist but focuses on a genuinely complex and multi-layered character. In this sense, the three films work effectively as theory, theory in practice and the mastering of the experiment.
I docked a half of a star for some of the extreme elements of the film I feel may have been unnecessary. Not to say that I personally mind, I don't, but I can see how one could argue that the story wouldn't have lost any steam if the extremities had been more implied than explicit. I do feel that these portions of the film give it a bit of immediacy but, again, the story would have sufficed if they were more implied. The film doesn't achieve the kind of literal and visual perfection of say, 'High and Low', but, that being said, it is directed in a delirious fashion by Park, who here achieves a transgressive virtuosity rarely matched by his peers.
Lastly, don't pay too much attention to the 'Kill Bill' quote on the front sleeve of the casing. It's true that both films center around revenge and showcase explicit violence but 'Lady' is far different in spirit from 'Bill', which is more genre-related and comical (not to take anything away from 'Bill', its great, but I just wanted to differentiate the two for anyone who has never seen one of Park's films before). Otherwise this is a great film with an astonishing plot and a great, morally complex character. Highly Recommended.
Movie Review: Those Are The Eyes Of Revenge
Summary: 4 Stars
The last of the "Vengeance Trilogy" is also the last for me as well, I have finally seen all three. Lady Vengeance is definitely not the best of the three but it was still one sick flick. Let's set it off, the film starts out just a little slow and a little weird and even more weird than the other two. Lee Geum-ja who was wrongly put in prison for murder is finally getting out. While inside she basically goes from a sweet and innocent girl to a rather cold and vengeful nutcase. Though she has developed a much thicker skin over the years she still holds a bit of a soft spot but trust me when I say just a bit.
Geum-ja has nothing but time to think of all that has happened and of course it has driven her crazy. She wants to see her daughter that she has not seen since she was an infant. Most of all she wants revenge on the man that locked her away for 13 years. Not the cop that put her away but the man that basically brainwashed her into taking the case for him. Mr. Baek who was well I guess you could say Geum-ja's much older boyfriend is the spawn of her insanity. He is slowly revealed as a very sick and sadistic man and wait until you find out what he does for a living. Baek has been on Geum-ja's mind everyday since she went in. It's weird how their relationship began but trust me when I say that it ends on some pretty cold terms but nobody ever said vengeance is a warm meal, right?
Honestly I don't want to say much more about the movie cause I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Chan-wook is definitely a mastermind at making a film build to its climax. In all three of these films some could maybe figure out what's going to happen and most likely you will in this one. The thing is that the movie ending is written and executed so well that you are not disappointed at all. I loved the actors, some of them were even in one or two of the other films. Lee Young Ae who played Geum-ja was amazing playing her character. I don't know if you can find anyone else who could have played a such a cold blooded woman who still had a bit of a warm heart so well. The entire time you still felt sorry for her character but still wanted her to do whatever to get her revenge because she deserved it.
I give "Lady Vengeance" 4 stars for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I hated but loved the pacing. I say pacing but it could have been the music and overall settings that some scenes become a bit boring. That look Geum-ja had on her face got to be a little bit of a pain. Unlike the main character from Oldboy, that mystery missing from this one made the movie a little less interesting. Basically the only thing you're waiting for from the film is to see how she gets her revenge. I guess after seeing this from two others you want some new stuff.
Now the movie is still very good but it is not on the level of the other two, at least not to me. The positives are that the acting is very good and the ending is crazy good. I say that if you're a fan then definitely get it cause you have to but for you starters out there, start from the beginning. At least you will know what you're dealing with instead of just being thrown into the crazy mind of Park Chan-wook.
Movie Review: Venceance is best served cold.
Summary: 4 Stars
Lady Vengeance (Chan-wook Park, 2005)
In 2000, Chan-wook Park, a relatively obscure director, and Yeon-ae Lee, a young actress, teamed up for JSA: Joint Security Area, the movie that shot both of them to stardom in their native Korea. Park was to explode onto the international scene with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and the multiple-award-winning Oldboy; Lee continued being popular in Korea, but not so much outside it. All that changed when Park brought her back in to be the lead in Lady Vengeance, the final installment of his revenge trilogy. Poof--instant international stardom!
As with the other revenge films, Lady Vengeance has as its main character a person who has been wrongly imprisoned. In this case, it's Geum-Ja (Lee), who went to prison for kidnap and murder for thirteen years. Now she's out, and she wants revenge. In order to get it, she enlists the help of a number of previously-released prison inmates who'd grown fond of her while they were incarcerated together, and the bunch put together an elaborate plan for the real killer's demise.
It's a fun movie, as long as you're not turned off by a pervasive suggestion of violence (not a great deal of which is actually shown, in contrast to Oldboy). It's very straightforward, which lends the movie a somewhat deliberate pace; there aren't any red herrings being tossed around. We just have Geum-Ja's single-minded devotion to revenge, her plan, and its execution, on the plot side of things. This gives Park time to develop a number of the characters in interesting ways, especially Geum-Ja; interwoven with the flashback scenes of prison life are a number of earlier scenes that give us a sense of who she is as a person, and the extent to which prison changed her. Or did it? Were all her selfless acts in prison, where she was known as an angel, geared towards making allies to help her with her plan (which, at one point, she said began the day she went to prison)? We're never explicitly told, but in the end, it's a secondary consideration; the revenge is what matters. Lady Vengeance is simple and powerful, and worth your time. *** ½
Movie Review: Park Chan-wook proves to us that he is one of the best directors from Korea.
Summary: 4 Stars
This film is really good. Park Chanwook made the perfect conclusion to a trilogy with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. The three films work off each other beautifully, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is far from a disappointment.The acting is top-notch, with cameos from Park Chanwook's first two films intermingling with new talent. The directing is superb, not quite eclipsing Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance or Oldboy but coming quite close. Park's directing style is solid and distinctive; he builds off earlier films and ideas to give an air of intensity surrounding the most innocent of scenes.
SFLV cuts back on the violence and focuses on personal turmoil, a welcome change from the beginning of his revenge trilogy. My favorite elements of this movie are the use of flashbacks to tell the witty, yet complicated story, and that the film sticks to its theme of vengeance with a die-hard, unwavering dedication. The only thing holding back from a perfect score is a slow ending, one which is necessary to bring the trilogy to a close but still slightly treading.
All in all, this film represents a master finishing his masterpiece, should be viewed by everyone, and works perfectly as a separate film and not a piece of a trilogy. Violence is minimal compared to Park's first two films, but is graphic. "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is one of the few films that will make people cry not out of sadness but out of love.
Movie Review: High-quality conclusion to the Vengeance trilogy
Summary: 4 Stars
Geum-ja (Yeong-ae Lee) admitted to the murder of a young boy after the real killer (Min-sik Choi) threatened to kill her baby if she refused. After serving a long sentence during which she makes many friends among the inmates with her kind-hearted nature, she emerges with a thirst for vengeance on the true murderer.
Director / co-writer Chan-wook Park has crafted an exhilarating, shocking conclusion to his Vengeance trilogy. This time, the severing of parent-child bonds inspires the mayhem, and perhaps that is the most powerful motivation of all. The richly deserving target is a serial killer of young children. If you have young kids yourself, it may be difficult for you to watch a scene in which some of the killer's snuff films are revealed. My son was three years old when I saw it, and I found it impossible to watch without thinking of my own child. However, I'd like to point out that Park's approach is not cheap or exploitative; indeed, his refusal to look away from the ugliness is more respectful than a softer, "easier" version would be.