Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
by Chan-wook Park
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bo-bae Han, Du-na Bae, Ha-kyun Shin, Ji-Eun Lim, Kang-ho SongDirector: Chan-wook Park
Brand: Genius
Writer: Chan-wook Park
Producer: Dong-jun Seok
Producer: Jae-sun Lee
Writer: Jae-sun Lee
Producer: Jin-gyu Lim
Writer: Mu-yeong Lee
Writer: Yong-jong Lee
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Korean (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 129 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-11-22
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Tartan Video
Movie Reviews of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Movie Review: A Remarkable Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Five stars isn't enough for this film. While watching I was reminded of the best Western directors and consider Park better than any other Korean director, regardless of genre, and the equal of any living Japanese director. I can't even think of a Hitchcock film that I'd put above the craft and storytelling of this film. A telling endorsement is from Film Comment which I used as the title for this review.
A mistake others seem to make is to tag this film as "horror." Sure there is violence but it falls under the same type category as Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill. Even the title tells you that it is about vengeance, and there are no demons, evil spirits, or even serial killers in the normal sense. If categorizing the film it would be much closer to MacBeth than to any recognized horror film.
Others call the violence "extreme" but if you're a fan of modern horror or gangster films you can find much worse gore in mainstream releases. Much of it is like Hitchcock in that it occurs either off-camera or in the far background, so that the viewer is left to imagine much of the terror going through the victim's mind. By doing this the viewer becomes more actively engaged so that the scene has even more impact. (Note: if you want pure gross-out violence then try Ichi the Killer, which is also excellent.)
Although Oldboy and Lady Vengeance are excellent in their own right, when put against this film they come across as severely flawed. If you watch only one film from this director then this is the one to see.
Summary of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Unable to afford proper care for his sister dying from kidney failure, Ryu turns to the black market to sell his own organs only to end up cheated of his life savings. His girlfriend urges Ryu to kidnap the daughter of wealthy industrialist Dong-jin, who recently laid him off. Ryu agrees, but unforeseen tragedies turn an innocent con into a merciless quest for revenge. Bound by their personal losses and deep-seated anger, the two men are thrust into a spiral of destruction.Before he made the notorious cult hit Oldboy, South Korean director Chan-wook Park created Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, an equally gruesome yet elegant meditation on revenge. Desperate to get a kidney transplant for his dying sister, a deaf and dumb young man named Ryu (Ha-kyun Shin, Save the Green Planet!) kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy industrialist named Park (Kang-ho Song, Shiri). Despite Ryu's best intentions, things go horribly awry, setting in motion a series of escalating revenges--to describe the plot in more detail would undercut the movie, because much of its power comes from the spare and skillful storytelling. Chan-wook Park is careful to ground the audience in the characters' emotional lives; when the violence begins, the bloody events unfold with the hypnotic power of the revenge tragedies of the Shakespearean era, which had over-the-top plots and littered the stage with bodies, yet were full of rich poetry. Park's eye for startling images and careful editing creates a visual poetry, grotesque yet often haunting. Certainly not a film for everyone--squeamish viewers had best beware, while anyone who wants their violence flagrant and guilt-free will be disappointed--but cinephiles looking to have their hearts squeezed along with their stomachs will enjoy Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. --Bret Fetzer
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