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Shannon

Episode 62 - Oldboy

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This week Devin & Amy are nominating Park Chan-wook's classic South-Korean mystery thriller Oldboy for consideration into The Canon. Based on a manga, it follows Oh Dae-su, a man who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing the identity of his captor. When he is finally released, he decides to find the guy who did this to him and get revenge, but does not realize that his search for revenge is all part of his captor's very elaborate revenge plan. Listen as Devin shares his love for the film & Amy discusses why all the computer scenes should be skipped if this is your second viewing -- and head to the forums on Wolfpop to cast the deciding vote!

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Thanks so much for bringing this movie to my attention. I thought about my experience watching A Serbian Film while veiwing this film. Less over the top with its violence and shocking moments, I felt similar feelings through them as the scenes progressed. Oldboy is a much better film, but I did have a similar experience watching both of them.

 

The ending was incredible and as I watched the hypnotism sequence I knew immediately that the hypnotism didn't only fail, it wasn't intended to work. As he looks in the glass at himself during the hypnotism sequence, as soon as he walks away and not his reflection, we know that he has been tricked the final time. I listened to the show first before watching the movie, and I didn't expect that portion of the hypnotism. I didn't feel there was any ambiguity regarding it's success. Oh Dae Su was simply one step behind yet again.

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Just a few minor sound notes unmentioned in the episode: the Vivaldi leitmotif during the tooth extraction scenes. The heartbeat during the beat-em-up sequence in the hallway. The silly ringtone on his phone. I'm sure there were others as well. Just an incredible attention to detail in this film.

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Great episode. Does anyone else think that Woo Jin-Lee was completely wrong in getting revenge on Dae-su Oh? Yes, Dae-su was a bad person, and yes he had a big mouth, but he did not kill Woo's sister. Even by telling what he saw, that was a somewhat innocent thing to do. He didn't know they were brother and sister, and thus had no way to know that that information would lead to the consequences that it did. Even if he did, it was Woo and his sister that committed the wrong-doing, if anyone. The entire revenge plan was pointed in the wrong direction.

Anyone agree or disagree?

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