And then there was an octopus.

Because Jiffest just screened Old Boy for the first time in Indonesia, i thought i'll go down memory lane.remembering what it was like to see it for the first time myself.

I saw Old Boy middle of last year,i distinctively remembered the buzz it generated from all the movie sites and forums that i was apart of.

That was what made me extremely curious to see it, the first time.

I finally DL-ed it (for ages-lol).the DVD weren't available until early this year.

Old Boy is........an experience.

that's the simplest way to explain this movie.

The basic setup and title of the movie are derived from Tsuchiya Garon and Minegishi Nobuaki's Japanese comic, but the plot, characters and everything else have been completely re-worked.

The movie blows away the ijime-obsessed faux-existentialist machismo of the original and instead plunges into the themes far more universally resonant, as ancient as the scarred bones interred in our ancestral tombs: the unrequited (and unrequitable) love and the Biblical suffering that such a love brings to the hapless, hypocritical animals that we are.

The movie tells a story of a grumpy business man with a wife and a toddler daughter,who is kidnapped by a bunch of gangsters.Turns out they operate a private prison,and someone has paid them a huge amount of money to incarcerate him.

This is a dark revenge tale of a man who is hellbent on finding out why he was imprisoned in a windowless apartement for the past 15 years and who it was that killed his family.


The main character,played by Choi Min Shik(Failan,Shiri),for me, are a blend of the Lee Marvin-like taciturn heroics of a seventies crime thriller to the spectacular implosion of a broken man, pitifully wailing and literally licking the shoes of his enemy, and everything in between.

another cast who gave an extremely powerful performance,was Kang Hye Jung(Welcome to Dongmakgol). She potrayed her character with a subtlety(sp?),at times dangerously sexy and achingly vulnerable.

The directing itself.Wheew.

I could probably compile a book analyzing every shot technique that were used in this movie.There is something ingenious, interesting or at the very least eye-catching in practically every shot of the film.

Old Boy is not everyone's cup of tea,for sure.

with the violence,and perhaps,its arrogantly artistic way of presenting the story,would,no doubt,turn off some people.

But,that's the beauty of this movie.

It truly is,perhaps, one of the most beautifuly done cinematic experience for the last 5 years.



P.S:
If you want to watch other great movies,i recommend:
Korean:
Friend(Chingu)
JSA(Joint Security Area)
Sympathy for Ms.Vengeance
Welcome to Dongmakgol
Memories of Murder
Oasis
Peppermint Candy
The President's Last Bang
Barking Dogs never Bite
Take Care of My Cat
Save The Green Planet
A Tale of Two Sisters

China/HK/TW:
Once Upon a Time in China saga
Farewell My Concubine
Days of Being Wild
Happy Together
Chungking Express
In The Mood For love
2046
all of Stephen Chow's Movies
Raise the Red Lantern
Flowers of Shanghai
Hero
3 Times

Japan:
Casshern
All of Akira Kurosawa's movies
every animes that Studio Ghibli has ever done
Twilight Samurai (The Samurai Trilogy)
Ring
Crying Out Love,in The Center of The World