Chinjeolhan Geumjassi by Chan Wook Park – 2005
As the third instalment of the ‘Vengeance Trilogy’ of director Chan Wook Park, Chinjeolhan Geumjassi (English Title: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) is an 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 Korean blockbuster Oldboy, and after moderately impressed by the first movie of this trilogy Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, I decided to give Chinjeolhan Geumjassi a try. However, this so called ‘Vengeance Trilogy’ has never been declared as a trilogy officially by the movie makers.
Chinjeolhan Geumjassi, as usual deals with the vengeance of a young lady. After spending thirteen years in prison for kidnapping and killing a five years old boy, now 32 years old Geum-ja Lee (Yeong-ae Lee), the lead female character of this movie comes out of the prison. Though she has only assisted Mr. Baek (Min-sik Choi) in the kidnapping thirteen years back at the age of 19 only, later she was compelled by Mr. Baek to confess the crime and take the whole responsibility (abduction and killing of the 5 years old) on her own shoulder. Once out of the prison, Geum-ja’s sole purpose of living becomes the vengeance. She finds Mr. Baek who is responsible for her wretched condition and at the same time Geum-ja reunites with her long lost daughter Jenny.
As the title of this Korean flick suggests, this masterpiece of Chan Wook Park is all about revenge of the lady. Now whether the audiences will sympathise with her or not is their choice. From the very beginning the absolute brilliance of the soundtrack will mesmerize your mind. The direction and cinematography is truly amazing and it takes you back to the aura of OldBoy. Some of the scenes where brilliantly shot with clever usage of bright red, green and yellow lights/ colours, which gives Chinjeolhan Geumjassi a pure psychedelic effect. Though this Korean thriller is about vengeance, you will not notice (visually) too much of killing on screen, you will just feel it. Mind it, Chinjeolhan Geumjassi is not gore. Chan Wook Park has always been known for representing violence in the most creative way. You need to check out the torture scenes of Mr. Baek during the climax. Yeong-ae Lee who plays the main lady and Min-sik Choi have given their best effort. Yeong-ae Lee has totally adopted herself in the role. She feels the pain and you feel it for her. Chinjeolhan Geumjassi will make you realize that sometimes circumstances can make you do anything, absolutely anything. For any admirer of world cinema, Chinjeolhan Geumjassi should not be missed.
Watch the trailer of Chinjeolhan Geumjassi
My Rating - 7/10
Learn more about the movie on IMDB.
