Oldboy

[Brian SD]

Saw this movie, and I am flat-out amazed. It's dramatic, visually beautiful, stomach-churningly violent, innovative, and absolutely touching. Never have I watched a movie before that I was so disgusted that I felt like I couldn't watch, yet so compelled and immersed from beginning to end that I was seriously touched by the emotion (portrayed through love, desire for revenge, etc). I highly, HIGHLY recommend it, but it's not for the faint of heart. It's one of the most violent movies I've seen.

 

[Tokyo Slim]

Yeah, I rented it from Scarecrow a month or two ago. Its great.

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

The eating of live octopus dampens my mood.
Generally speaking, I find animal deaths in cinema to be distracting, and rather depressing, frankly.

That scene in Pink Flamingos when that dude rapes that chick... with a chicken in the mix, just puts me off.

And the horse being shot, pushed down the stairs and stabbed, in Andrei Rublev, is gratuitous, and it ends up being all I think about for the next half hour while the film plays on. I know that horse was "rescued" from a slaughterhouse, but it just rubs me the wrong way.

In Fast Food Nation, the slaughter of cows made sense, and seemed necessary in the story; that would be the one exception I can think of.

I seem to remember Christian Bale biting into a live snake in Rescue Dawn. Surely that could have been easily accomplished with a fake snake, but I guess that would not have drawn the people into the theater. Fake snake in the mouth is straight to video.

Deer Hunter, with deer being shot, I guess, is legal, and somewhat more humane than the other examples I provided. It goes on whether or not there is someone there to film it. I am ok with this, I think.


I don't quite understand why some filmmakers want to show animals being slaughtered in their films. Does the audience have to take them more seriously if blood was spilled?

 

[Manny Calavera]

Originally Posted by denimdestroyedmylife

The eating of live octopus dampens my mood.
Generally speaking, I find animal deaths in cinema to be distracting, and rather depressing, frankly.

That scene in Pink Flamingos when that dude rapes that chick... with a chicken in the mix, just puts me off.

And the horse being shot, pushed down the stairs and stabbed, in Andrei Rublev, is gratuitous, and it ends up being all I think about for the next half hour while the film plays on. I know that horse was "rescued" from a slaughterhouse, but it just rubs me the wrong way.

In Fast Food Nation, the slaughter of cows made sense, and seemed necessary in the story; that would be the one exception I can think of.

I seem to remember Christian Bale biting into a live snake in Rescue Dawn. Surely that could have been easily accomplished with a fake snake, but I guess that would not have drawn the people into the theater. Fake snake in the mouth is straight to video.

Deer Hunter, with deer being shot, I guess, is legal, and somewhat more humane than the other examples I provided. It goes on whether or not there is someone there to film it. I am ok with this, I think.


I don't quite understand why some filmmakers want to show animals being slaughtered in their films. Does the audience have to take them more seriously if blood was spilled?

It's difficult for me to tolerate even feigned, convincing animal deaths such as the tranquilized Balthazar in Au hasard Balthazar, so I understand where you're coming from.

 

[Get Smart]

as good as oldboy (part 2) is I liked Lady Vengeance (part 3) a little bit more.

I cant believe this thread only had 1 response when it was first posted...damn, Oldboy was one of the first Korean movies where I thought "****, these kimchee eating fuggers can make a great movie"

 

[Dekayte]

Too bad it's going in a completely different direction than the original work. I do agree it was a great movie though.

Kind of awkward watching it with my parents years ago. They're probably convinced that was the point where they messed me up. Haha.

 

[Get Smart]

Originally Posted by Dekayte

They're probably convinced that was the point where they messed me up.

explains your avatar?

 

[Tarmac]

I didn't like Old Boy that much. I thought the story lacked any real dramatic weight. Also I felt like it was the "movie of choice" for many english-speaking film critics to express how down they were with Korean film. The same problems plague Lady Vengeance.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was great though.

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by Tarmac

I didn't like Old Boy that much. I thought the story lacked any real dramatic weight. Also I felt like it was the "movie of choice" for many english-speaking film critics to express how down they were with Korean film. The same problems plague Lady Vengeance.
Hi - I'm an English speaker and I'm an down with Korean film !

The whole trilogy is fantastic, with my favorite being Lady V. Park and Bong are both extremely talented filmmakers

 

[kronik]

Saw this a couple years ago and have been meaning to buy it in a HD format. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[ratboycom]

I loved the series, Oldboy was the most violent and gritty when it comes to that. Mr. V was slow but tense so was Lady V.

 

[juicemakesugar]

Originally Posted by denimdestroyedmylife

I don't quite understand why some filmmakers want to show animals being slaughtered in their films. Does the audience have to take them more seriously if blood was spilled?

Whatever you do, DO NOT watch Cannibal Holocaust.

Oldboy impressed me for its share of on screen violence and the twist (not the first one) but ended up feeling flat for me. I still need to check out Sympthy for the Mr. and Mrs.

 

[kronik]

Originally Posted by juicemakesugar

Whatever you do, DO NOT watch Cannibal Holocaust.

+

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

Ugh. Just read up on it on Wiki. At least the director admits that it was stupid to involve animals. Sounds repentant on that count. The machete to the snake I have seen IRL while living in Florida, so that I can stomach. The machete to the spider I can appreciate a little. The decapitation and mutilation of the turtle sounds like it was not necessarily cruel to the turtle (assuming the decapitation took place first). But the kicking and shooting of the pig is kinda sad to me. And cutting off the face of the Squirrel Monkey sounds brutal; I used to have a pet Spider Monkey, so I guess this hits home a bit.

I can't say I want to see that movie very much.

 

[merkur]

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