Overview of Oldboy
‘Oldboy’ is a 2003 movie directed by Park Chan-wook. The screenplay for the movie is written by Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Jun-hyung, and Park Chan-wook. The story revolves around the lives of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), Mi-do (Kang Hye-jung), and Lee Woo-jin (Yoo Ji-tae).
‘Oldboy’ was a great hit in South Korea and is still considered a gem in the South Korean film industry. The film has legendary fight scenes and impressive plot twists. The movie was critically acclaimed and has received various prestigious awards.
Profile
- Name: Oldboy
- Genre: Thriller, Horrer
- Starring: Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae, Kang Hye-jung
- Directed by: Park Chan-wook
- Screenplay by: Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Jun-hyung, Park Chan-wook
- Produced by: Lim Seung-yong
- Distributed by: Show East
- Cinematography: Chung Chung-hoon
- Running time: 120 minutes
- Edited by: Kim Sang-bum
- Production Companies: Egg Film, CJ Entertainment
- Release date: 21 November 2003
- Music by: Cho Young-wuk
- Language: Korean
- Country: South Korea
Cast
- Choi Min-sik as Oh Dae-su
- Yoo Ji-tae as Lee Woo-jin
- Oh Tae-kyung as young Dae-su
- Yoo Yeon-seok as young Woo-jin
- Oh Dal-su as Mr. Park Cheol-woong
- Kang Hye-jung as Mi-do
- Kim Byeong-ok as Mr. Han
- Ji Dae-han as No Joo-hwan
- Yoon Jin-seo as Lee Soo-ah
- Oh Kwang-rok as Suicidal man
Synopsis
The story begins in 1988. The police arrest a businessman called Dae-su for causing trouble in public after getting drunk. Due to the arrest, he misses his daughter’s fourth birthday. In the security of Joo-hwan, the police release Dae-su.
On the way home, Dae-su gets kidnapped by an anonymous man. He locks him in a hotel room with a television. The kidnapper feeds Dae-su every day and cleans the room after injecting a gas into it. The television starts to occupy Dae-su’s solitude. One day, from the news, he learns that his wife was killed, and the police suspect Dae-su as the murderer.
As time passes, loneliness starts to question his sanity. He tries to kill himself by cutting his wrist. However, his kidnapper makes him walk through hellfire by treating his wound and keeping him alive. Therefore, Dae-su dedicates his time to practicing martial arts. He practices on the room’s wall and tries to make a hole.
After completing 15 years of imprisonment, in 2003, the kidnapper throws a sedated and hypnotised Dae-su into the real world. When he opens his eyes, he sees himself lying on an unknown rooftop. Looking around, he sees a suicidal man and tells him about the past 15 years. Dae-su does not show interest in listening to the other man’s life story. When he leaves the rooftop, ignoring the man, he commits suicide.
Dae-su walks through the street and tests his fighting skills on a group of thugs. Later, an anonymous beggar comes to the scene and hands him some money and a cell phone. With the money, he goes to a restaurant for dinner. Fried dumplings were the food that he used to eat during his years of confinement. One day, when he ate fried dumplings in his prison, he got a sticker with the name of the restaurant where the dumplings were prepared. Using that hint, he tries to trace his kidnapper.
Out in the restaurant for the first time in 15 years, he orders a live octopus. Also, he gets a call from his kidnapper while sitting there. He eats the octopus and collapses to the ground. Mi-do, the young chef of the restaurant, takes Dae-su to her house. When awake, Dae-su tries to assault her, but later feels guilty and tries to escape from her house.
Still, Mi-do makes him stay there, and slowly they start to grow closer. Dae-su attempts to find her daughter but learns that somebody has adopted her. Therefore, Dae-su fixes his full focus on finding his kidnapper. He discovers where the fried dumplings are made. By following a delivery boy, he reaches the hotel where he was imprisoned and meets the warden. By torturing and questioning the warden, Mr. Park Cheol-woong, he learns that the hotel serves as a private prison for rich people.
When Dae-su comes out of Park Cheol-woong’s cabin, he indulges in an impressive fight with his thugs. Dae-su’s interrogation with Park Cheol-woong reveals his kidnapper is a wealthy businessman called Lee Woo-jin. Later, Lee Woo-jin asks Dae-su to discover the reason why he imprisoned him. If he is able to uncover the reason, Lee Woo-jin will commit suicide, leaving Dae-su free. If Dae-su fails, then Lee Woo-jin will kill Mi-do.
To tell an important information, Joo-hwan contacts Dae-su, but while they are talking on the phone, Lee Woo-jin kills Joo-hwan. After the conversation, Dae-su recalls his school days. Dae-su and Lee Woo-jin were schoolmates. One day, Dae-su sees Woo-jin and his sister Soo-ah indulging in sexual activities. Dae-su breaks this news to Joo-hwan, and later it spreads in the whole school, which leads to Soo-ah’s suicide.
Woo-jin’s action of cutting the palm of Park Cheol-woong leads him and his men to team up with Dae-su. To secure the safety of Mi-do, Dae-su sent her to Park Cheol-woong and goes to see Lee Woo-jin at his apartment. Lee Woo-jin shows him the photographs of Dae-su’s family years ago. Also, the album contains photos of Dae-su’s daughter growing into a young lady.
Finally, Dae-su realises that Mi-do is his daughter. At that point, Lee Woo-jin’s heinous strategy of revenge is revealed. He planned the whole drama to make Dae-su and Mi-do fall in love with each other and later indulge in sexual activities. To make Dae-su feel the same pain that Lee Woo-jin had gone through years ago, he discloses that Park Cheol-woong is still his man, and he is going to tell Mi-Do the truth.
Dae-su begs him and pretends to be a dog. He licks his shoe to prevent the tragedy. He convinces his heartfelt repentance by pulling out his tongue. Later, Dae-su switches on a device to kill Woo-Jin, but it is an audio recording of Dae-su and Mi-do’S private time. Dae-su’s pain quenches the revenge of Lee Woo-jin, but soon it is replaced by the guilt of indulging in sexual activities with his sister. Therefore, he commits suicide in the apartment lift.
After all the happenings, Dae-su finds out about the hypnotist and writes her a letter begging her to remove the memory of Mi-do as his daughter. At first, she hesitates, but later the letter melts her heart. Subsequently, Mi-do finds Dae-su fainted on the snow. She walks him up and confesses her feelings for him. The movie ends by showing the broad and ambiguous smile on Dae-su’s face.
Theme
In the movie ‘Oldboy’, revenge can be seen as the central theme. To take vengeance, the villain in the movie has been waiting for 15 years. Through hypnotising, he pushes his targets, Dae-su and Mi-do, into a sexual and romantic relationship. Thereby, he makes the father and daughter being in incest feel normal to the characters since they have forgotten about the biological relationship between them.
The immoral relationship between the father and daughter in ‘Oldboy’ is influenced by the Freudian concepts of psychology, the Oedipus complex, and the Electra complex. When the father and daughter indulge in sexual activities, the viewers can only watch helplessly. Furthermore, the viewers can experience a strong sense of loneliness that the characters go through.
Awards
- Asia Pacific Film Festival
Best Director – Park Chan-wook
Best Actor – Choi Min-sik - Austin Film Critics Association
Best Foreign Film - Bangkok International Film Festival
Best Director (tied with Christophe Barratier for Les Choristes) – Park Chan-wook - Belgian Film Critics Association
Grand Prix – Oldboy - Bergen International Film Festival
Audience Award – Oldboy - Blue Dragon Film Awards
Best Director – Park Chan-wook
Best Actor – Choi Min-sik
Best Supporting Actress – Kang Hye-jung - British Independent Film Awards
Best Foreign Independent Film - Cannes Film Festival
Grand Prix – Oldboy - Director’s Cut Awards
Best Director – Park Chan-wook
Best Actor – Choi Min-sik
Best Producer – Kim Dong-joo - Golden Trailer Awards
Best Foreign Action Trailer (tied with District 13) – Oldboy - Grand Bell Awards
Best Director – Park Chan-wook
Best Actor – Choi Min-sik
Best Editing – Kim Sang-bum
Best Lighting – Park Hyun-won
Best Music – Jo Yeong-wook - Hong Kong Film Awards
Best Asian Film - Korean Film Awards
Best Film – ‘Oldboy’
Best Director – Park Chan-wook
Best Actor – Choi Min-sik
Best Music – Jo Yeong-wook - Sitges Film Festival
Best Film – ‘Oldboy’
José Luis Guarner Critic’s Award - Stockholm International Film Festival
Audience Award
Interesting Facts about Oldboy
- In South Korea, ‘Oldboy’ occupied the fifth position for the highest-grossing movie in 2003 reaching 3,260,000 viewers.
- For the role Dae-su, Choi Min-sik reduced 20 pounds of his body weight and trained for 6 weeks.
- The beginning scene of Dae-su arrested by the police was the last scene filmed.
- ‘Oldboy’ is a part of the The Vengeance Trilogy of Park Chan-wook. The other two films in the trilogy are ‘Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance’ (2002) and ‘Lady Vengence‘ (2005).
FAQs
- Who is the director of ‘Oldboy’?
Park Chan-wook directed ‘Oldboy’. - When was ‘Oldboy’ released?
21 November 2003 - What is the Facebook ID of Kang Hye-jung?
