Oldboyish

I wouldn't be surprised that Chan Park Wook has seen, studied, dissected, and absorbed Kieslowski's White; Kieslowski's work is like canon for any cinephile. Chan Park Wook makes brilliant films, but I definitely don't want to see them again. Mr Vengeance was way too much for me and I'd like to think of myself as not too squeamish a moviegoer. But I definitely loved and enjoyed White and I thought the script was much more brilliant and masterful than any of Chan Park Wook's revenge trilogy films.


For me, White is the best revenge film I've seen so far, mainly because there's a distance to revenge. The distance is humor while the other revenge flicks focus so much on rage and violence, and we all know how far rage and violence goes - it runs out of steam and everyone dies in the end (or some sick twist of fate) in one big, fat tragedy. Chan Park Wook's films are digestible only insofar it's cartoonish, but come on, after seeing disemboweled intestines on the floor in Mr Vengeance, there is little to feel for except numbness and disgust.

I'd say Chan Park Wook revenge trilogy was at least inspired a great deal by Kieslowski. Kieslowski's works are what any film student would study, but I definitely prefer Kieslowski over Chan!

I actually keep thinking of The War of the Roses, minus the histrionics. Old Boy? Well, there's an ocean of blood and guts separating them and that's just the start.🐭

Actually it is more like the "Count of Monte Cristo," which "Oldboy" references.