Of course I was looking forward to this film
because I loved OLD BOY, thinking it is one of the most disturbing films every
made, and this film of course is Park Chan Wook’s 3rd film in his revenge
trilogy with SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE having started the series, and of course
OLD BOY being part 2. The films are completely unalike in story and character,
but do share similar themes of revenge. I had expected to not like this film as
much as OLD BOY, but was pleasantly surprised, and think this is actually a much
more accessible film than the other 2 in the series, and while still very
violent the film is powerful and parent’s would really understand. The
performance of Lee Young Ae, who was also in JSA (another fabulous film by Park
Chan Wook) is top notch, and she really makes you care for her and believe in
her and her quest for vengeance. This is one of the best films of the year, and
Park Chan Wook has showed his skill level again and again. He is really someone
to watch.

REVIEW CONTAINS
SPOILERS…

The story of the film is simple enough, but told with enough style and wit that it really works. The film starts with Geum Ja (Lee Young Ae) being released from prison after a 13 year sentence for the crime of kidnapping and murdering a preschooler. We see her in prison in flashbacks where we see her as the Kindly Miss Geum Ja (also the Korean title of the film), and we see that she has made an elaborate scheme of revenge, where she has helped various other female prisoners, even killing one woman who was threatening others, and has gotten them to help with her revenge plans. In the present we see the police detective who investigated her case (Nam Il Woo) and her estranged 14 year old daughter Jenny (Kwon Yea Young) who has been adopted by an Australian family and only speaks English, but convinces Geum Ja to take her back to Seoul for a visit. We learn that the revenge scheme is against a Mr. Baek (Choi Min Sik star of OLD BOY) who is a teacher, and she called him and moved in with him when she was 18 and pregnant, and he committed the kidnapping and killed the boy and then took Jenny and told Geum Ja he would kill Jenny unless she confessed to the crime. Guem Ja even got a woman to marry him, who he mistreated horribly, but who managed to put drugs in his food and knock him out so that Guem Ja could take him to a remote location, where she doesn’t kill him, though does shoot through his feet. Then he and Baek’s wife search her place and discover video tapes of all his murder victims, of 4 other children, and with the help of the police detective gets the families of all the murdered children and takes them to the school where Baek is help prisoner. She shows them the tapes of their children’s murder and gives them the chance to turn him into the police or to kill him, which they do each stabbing him in turn until he is dead, then Guem Ja puts a couple of bullets in his head as they burry him, but she doesn’t find her salvation. She does hug her daughter and apologize till her daughter forgives her, but she may never find her redemption because her revenge does not give her daughter back to her, or the 13 years she lost of her life. Or making her into an actual murdered while she was in prison, she has been forever changed.

This is really a wonderful film, so well performed, shot, edited, everything about it in fact. The cinematography of Jeong Jeong Hoon and lighting director Pak Hyn Won is top notch, with changing lighting schemes for flashbacks and modern times.