Boksuneun Naui Geot by Chan Wook Park - 2002
The first instalment of the trilogy of Korean director Chan-wook Park is Boksuneun Naui Geot (English Title: Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance). This Korean thriller is a class in itself, if you like the style of Park. Though most of his movies (OldBoy, Bakjwi etc.) are kind of similar at the first instance and they definitely revolve around the same theme, yet each and every movie of Chan-wook Park is different from the others and quite enjoyable.
Ryu (Ha-kyun Shin), a deaf and dumb worker of Ilshin Electronics in Seoul needs to arrange for kidney transplantation for his ailing sister. Though he wants to donate his own kidney, it turns out to be incompatible with the requirement of his sister. Soon Ryu is fired by his employer and in a desperate attempt to obtain a kidney for his sister, Ryu agrees to sell one of his own kidney along with a payment of 10 million Yon to the illegal organ trader. But ultimately he is duped by the organ traders. Ryu’s girlfriend convinces him to kidnap the daughter of his ex-employer for ransom. But things never go according to the plan – Ryu’s sister commits suicide, the daughter of the ex-employer accidentally gets killed in their custody and so on… as Boksuneun Naui Geot progresses, more people begin to die.
As a film of Chan-wook Park, you will definitely find the creative and artistic use of violence, blood and death scenes. If you start with the story, you will not find Boksuneun Naui Geot is only about revenge, but rather than that, it is more related towards the duties and responsibilities of a relationship. Often we take the extreme steps for the sake of our loved ones. As you watch this movie, you will find lots of unfortunate events unfolding before your eyes, which can make you really uncomfortable. It is a well shot film with well executed cinematography. The violence is tolerable and the Chan-wook Park has left no stone unturned to add his brilliance to it. However, I didn’t find this movie as thrilling as OldBoy though. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance requires your full attention when you are watching it. In fact, every work of Park needs repetitive viewership in order to understand them completely. Anyways, for any Asian movie addicts, Boksuneun Naui Geot cannot be ignored.
Watch the trailer of Boksuneun Naui Geot
My Rating - 6/10
Learn more about the movie on IMDB.
[...] equally well made movie, which fulfils the expectations that has been created mostly by Oldboy and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. After being hugely impressed by the class of Chan Wook Park for his brilliant screenplay in the [...]