I had literally just finished watching it, so it was fresh in my mind. The point of the comment was that he had loved the Barbarian when they were at school and been rebuffed, mocked and beaten, and he wanted revenge by dealing out the same hand to the Barbarian's brother.
But come on, we're talking about events of, at most, twenty years ago. Are we truly expected to believe that none of these people recognised each other? Given their backwoods location, one would expect everyone to know everyone else.
So far as the sad piano track is concerned Korean films often have a tendency to descend into mawkish and inappropriate nonsense. I like their films, and have seen scores of them, but this was out-and-out nonsense. All of the Asian countries produced this kind of over-emotional film initially, and one clue is often the use of Western classical music. It persists to this day in a lot of Hong Kong films.
It was at least half an hour too long, there wasn't one character who behaved in a decent fashion and the photography was, I thought, stunningly naff. I'm not anal about small details in film, but the Barbarian sneering at the professor was plainly stupid. He said he was more likely to be a waiter than a pofessor, but a brand-new MB550 including import taxes would cost well in excess of $60k and be completely unaffordable for a waiter.
A lot of the critics seem over-anxious to gild the lily with their reviews of this film. For instance, from the LA Times:
"Psychically devastating bullying and its corollary -- exquisite revenge -- are not uncommon to current trends in the horror film, and South Korea has produced its fair share of this genre stripe (notably Park Chan-Wook's acclaimed vengeance trilogy). Aiming for something more viscerally complex is "A Bloody Aria," writer/director Won Shin-yun's arty thriller about a fated convergence of people from different strata of Korean society who queasily slide between roles of tormentor and victim."
I mean, please. To compare this film with the 'Vengeance' trilogy is like comparing 'Itchy and Scratchy' with a Pixar release. The good news (for me) is that athough the production budget was $2 million (most of it spent on the car, I reckon) it grossed less than $600k, so maybe we won't be hearing from Mr Won again.
If you liked it, if it struck a chord somewhere, fine. I really am not trying to change your mind. But I certainly found it tedious, over-derivative and not worth the effort.
reply
share
sammy_mendel
15 years ago
No, it's always interesting to hear other perspectives. As I said in the OP, the rest of the film's mediocrity was probably what gave that scene such an impact for me. I must protest your generalisation of Korean cinema, though - like you, I was sucked into it through Park Chan-Wook, and having seen rom-coms, family dramas and philosophical Korean films I believe that they are less prone to nonsense than your typical Hollywood fare.
I have certain reservations about the Vengeance trilogy, but have to agree that they simply have much more to them than Aria. With regard to the photography, the all-important rule is that the location or set makes the footage, and they chose to film, well, on a small muddy beach.
reply
share
bogwart-1
15 years ago
Although Oldboy was one of the first Korean films I watched it was some time before I saw the other two, and in the meantime I watched just about everything that was going in Korean cinema.
Of course I agree with your comparison with Hollywood's efforts; Hollywood is all box office-driven and relies for the most part on having as wide an appeal as possible. In that way you lose sight of the brush strokes that make up the painting, and it's all about playing to your chosen demographic rather than making them do the work to come to you. We know why that happens.
Some of the Korean films I have seen have been breathtakingly beautiful; The Bow comes to mind - actually anything by Ki-duk Kim comes to mind. 3-Iron was a brilliant comedy and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring was an education in itself.
This in fact is one reason, probably, that I was so very disappointed by Aria. When you are presented with such a hackneyed theme then the shortcomings of the film become more obvious - and there was certainly way too much time to consider plot holes and inconsistencies.
Never mind, it's only a film...
reply
share
barbarossa4188
11 years ago
Right on.
"Stalingrad. . . The fall of Stalingrad was the end of Europe. There's been a cataclysm."
reply
share