6. Oldboy - Dir. Chan-wook Park
Oldboy floored me. After watching it, I felt like I had been punched in the gut and kicked in the face while falling down. Yes, I think it is a shocking film, but it's power does not exist solely in its ability to shock or disgust. It is an expertly crafted film that just so happens to also possess a shocking narrative that deals with incest, revenge, and extreme violence. Far too often, films like this exist only to shock, that is, without the shock value they have nothing. Oldboy is not such a film.
I had seen JSA previously, and I knew that Chan-wook Park had some skill as a director. His ability to direct actors, and create atmosphere was evident in this early picture. I missed the evolutionary step of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and so I was not fully prepared for Mr. Park's maturity in Oldboy. Everything he does here is perfectly in step - it's like he found some magical groove, and locked his creative energy into a unwavering track of expert execution. The way the mystery builds is full of tension and drama. The way the characters interact is full of nuance and believability relative to the outlandish situations they find themselves in.
Of course it helps that Oldboy features Min-Sik Choi as Dae-su Oh. Choi's performance here is astonishing, one of my favorites. He possesses a ton of charisma, and through his voice and body language he is able to convey tons of passion, energy, and life. Dae-su's plight, his quest, is one full of absurdity, turmoil, tragedy, and enough WTF?! moments to screw with anyone's head. This is a hard role to play, and could have easily fallen into a more cartoonish portrayal if left in the hands of a less experience actor. But Choi handles it all with great skill. There are moments throughout the film when I just want to reach in and give the dude a hug because of all the crap he is put through.
Oldboy also features some of my absolute favorite cinematic moments. I admire the way the narrative moves along and keeps the audience in the dark, while slowly revealing clues through the eyes of the characters. The opening moments, when Dae-su is locked away in the mysterious prison are amazing. Why is he there? What did he do? During these moments we get to witness his transformation into an almost monstrous entity. His inner disturbance manifests itself in his outward appearance in a fashion similar to Dr. Jekyll's Mr. Hyde. Dae-su becomes a creature shaped by his surroundings. I also love the hall way fight sequence, the final showdown with the antagonist, and the final moments of the film.
I don't think that Chan-wook Park has topped Oldboy, and I don't know if he ever will. It is such a powerful and moving experience, one built upon expertly crafted genre convention made more emotional by the characters and the direction. The film simply stunned me. After my first viewing, I literally sat in complete silence, just thinking about what I had seen. I didn't feel like moving, or disturbing the moment I was in. There are very few films that impacted me on such a level, and out of these, Oldboy wowed me the most.
