Thursday, October 12, 2006

Oldboy

This, along with(The Bicycle Thief) is the most impactful movie that I have seen this year. Like"Requiem for a dream" and 'Matrix", the style redefines the movies of today. A lot of reviews have dismissed this movie as too much Tarentino ( http://marksteudel.wordpress.com/2006/09/05/oldboy-2003/) and KillBillish, relying on style over content and too much gore.
Firstly, I believe this is far superior to Kill Bill. Tarentino is good, but a bit overhyped. And I don't think his #1 forte is style but dialogues.
Second point - Bullshit. The movie made me think. Not many can claim to do that these days. A lot of us suffer from the misconception that if something is delivered in a cinematically cool package, it can't have any substance.
Third - I think the gore was necesary. Even the violent copulation scene between Oh-Dae-Su and Miko.

I don't like to dissect movies that have made an impact in me. The essence of the impact is in the whole and not parts. To understand the lack of impact, maybe, you need to dissect it.

But some scense that clearly I enjoyed the most stylistically ( and don't feel guilty about it)-

1.tha passage of time by world events unfolding on the TV.
2. Dae-Su coolly walknig to a gang, plucking the cigarette from one's lips and having his first puff after 15 years. And the small fight after that where he questions whether 15 years of self training can really prepare you for the real world and the two line answer - It can.
3. Of course, the fight scene in the passage which I feel has been inspired by video games layouts like Ninja.

I have watch the movie 5 times now and still watching...
Some more blogs on Oldboy http://unrealcity.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!32C26870C88B5120!434.entry
http://zforce.blogspot.com/2006/09/movie-review-oldboy-2003.html

1 comment:

Nothing Spectacular said...

I saw the Indian version of this movie (Zinda) and liked it quite a bit (stylistically and content-wise). I'm happy I saw that first because if I had seen the original first I would not have liked the copy. But I think Sanjay Dutt was perfect for the role of Oh-Daesu.