20 years ago – long before the general public discovered Korean cinema thanks to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite – South Korean director Park Chan-wook, who had been revealed a few years earlier by the thriller JSA (Joint Security Zone), turned the manga into a movie. old boyConsisting of 8 volumes.
Written by Tsuchiya Garon and drawn by Nobuaki Minegishi between 1996 and 1998, executive producer Dong-Jo Kim acquired the rights to the adaptation for less than €11,000.
Awarded by Quentin Tarantino
Actor Choi Min-sik (then already seen in Drunken Women and Painting) played the lead role of Oh Dae-soo, a no-nonsense father who is kidnapped in front of his house.
Placed in a private cell for several years, his only connection to the outside world is television. Through the latter, he learns about the murder of his wife, in which he is the main suspect.
The despair of being seized for no reason is then followed by an inner rage of revenge in the hero that allows him to escape. He was released after 15 years, still without explanation. Oh Dae-soo is then contacted by the person who seems to be responsible for her troubles, who offers to find out who kidnapped her and why…
old boy
The feature film is the second part of the revenge trilogy Park Chan-wook Following on from last year’s Mr. Revenge Sympathy, which follows the descent into hell of a man who kidnaps a little girl in hopes of ransoming her sister.
Released in 2005, Lady Vengeance, directed by Yeong-ae Lee and again Min-sik Choi, completes the triptych.
Selected for competition at Cannes, Old Boy won jury president Quentin Tarantino (whose Kill Bill came out the year before) the top prize and established the director on the international stage.
The movie is possible… thanks to Bong Joon-ho!
during the theatrical performance old boy, Park Chan-wook He said that another Korean director gave him the idea to adapt the manga. “I like Japanese manga, but I’m not a big fan at all Bong Joon-ho who advised me to read it old boy. I read it without thinking of making a movie about it.
old boy
So when the producer came to me with this manga, I had to reread it from a different angle. As for the difference between the two, (…) the motive for revenge is completely different.
As a result, the means of revenge are different (…), the common points are a private prison, the story of a man who is reborn through the experience of imprisonment and the fact that the villain does not really hide himself. enemy.”
Therefore, the film is different from the paper work, which keeps the surprise for the reader until the end. Darker but also more violent, Old Boy is one of the most emblematic works of the new wave of South Korean cinema that emerged in the early 2000s.
One of the most memorable endings in the history of cinema
The biggest hit of 2003 in Korea, surpassing The Matrix Revolutions and another revenge film, Kill Bill: Volume 1 at the box office, Old Boy is a grand and stunning thriller that quickly rose to cult status.
Ten years after it hit theaters, Spike Lee also directed an American remake with Josh Brolin as the obsessed father and Elizabeth Olsen as the young woman… but the film pales in comparison to the iconic original.
old boy
And if, 20 years after its release, Old Boy is still considered one of the greatest thrillers in history, it is because Park Chan-wook manages to maintain suspense throughout his film and not see the tragic outcome of his characters.
The film drops hints without revealing the depravity of the plot. The ending – which we won’t mention here so as not to spoil the surprise – haunts viewers years later and gives full meaning to the saying “revenge is a dish best served cold”.
A cult film
Brilliantly embodied Min-sik ChoiHaving trained for six weeks and lost 20 pounds for the role, Dae-Soo’s character has also become one of the flagships of popular culture, and the photo of the hero brandishing a hammer has become iconic.
In 2008, the magazine Empire The feature film is also ranked 64th in the list of the 500 greatest films of all time, and the BBC places it at number 29 in its list of the best non-English films of 2018.
On AlloCiné, the feature film has an average press rating of 4 out of 5 stars and an audience rating of 4.2 stars out of 27,263 total ratings.
Prohibited under 16 old boy Sympathy for Mr. Along with Vengeance and Lady Vengeance.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
