Popcorn, Soda, and Goobers - Movie and DVD Reviews and Film Commentary

So this is the final part to the Extreme Asian Cinema series! I’m excited to end this series of posts with a mentioning of the famous Park Chan-wook trilogy. For those uninitiated, Park Chan-wook is a compelling and stylish Korean director who has made a trilogy of films that are thematically connected. This “vengeance trilogy” sings the joys of Tarantino-esque violence and dark exploitation-like film without harming the narrative aspects of the three movies. While the three movies are not connected by narrative means, it is clear that the idea of revenge ties them together.

The trilogy includes (in order of release) Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, OldBoy, and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. While I think OldBoy continues to be the best known (and I enjoyed it the most), the other two flicks offer great experiences as well. OldBoy possesses constant mystery and to me was the most engaging of the three flicks. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance provided interesting stories though they weren’t as gripping as OldBoy. I found OldBoy to be the most action packed (hammer fight scene), and it had a sense of direction - you know something is coming at the end to hit you in the face.

Perhaps the Sympathy are more grounded in reality, making them sometimes harder to watch. All three films are pretty dark, but I found Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance to be a pretty depressingly dark film. The storyline involves many unintended deaths and misunderstandings which made me feel a bit helpless as vengeful murders continued across the screen. In this film, bad guys aren’t necessarily all that bad and good guys aren’t totally good - everyone gets what’s coming in the end.

Like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Lady Vengeance is dark and grounded. It follows the story of Geum-ja Lee, a woman who was wrongfully imprisoned. In prison she develops numerous friends, and upon release, she proceeds to hunt the man who put her in jail. During this journey, she rejoins with her daughter and finds other people who want to join in her revenge. In Lady Vengeance, much of the violence occurs off-screen when compared to its two predecessors. However, this doesn’t necessarily lessen the effect - what you can’t see, you can still hear (or feel).

Comparison of the vengeance trilogy films with Tarantino’s Kill Bill appears inevitable, so here are my thoughts: While I enjoy all of the films, I see the two Kill Bills as an example of Tarantino’s indulgence and love for exploitation cinema. Park Chan-wook’s vengeance trilogy lay less on the exploitation and more on the narrative (more like Kill Bill vol 2.) and cinematic storytelling. For me, I am a bit more interested in seeing what Park Chan-wook will turn up next rather than Tarantino’s self-love portrayed on the screen. Don’t hate me if you love Tarantino - I still like his films a lot too.

In the end, Park Chan-wook’s vengeance trilogy stands as a hit. These films are engaging and worth a view. You don’t need to see them in any particular order, so check them out whenever you can.

Pictures (Top to Bottom): OldBoy (imdb), Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (imdb), Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (imdb)

The complete trilogy: 4 hammer fights out of 5