Oldboy (2003) A Film Review

Starring:- Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu and Hye-jeong Kang
Director:- Chan-wook Park

Even if you only watch one foreign language film this year, or even in your lifetime, watch Oldboy; a searing psychological drama and action thriller that will leave you breathless, and dying for more. If director Chan-wook Park had never made another film, then with this masterpiece, his life's work would have been complete.

                                                             

Dae-Su (Min-sik Choi) has been imprisoned without reason or comprehension for 15 years. Eventually, after his escape, he vows to reek vengeance against his kidnapper who has robbed him of everything- his wife, his daughter and his life. He befriends a sushi chef (Hye-jeong Kang) and the pair begin to unlock the terrible mystery.

Choi is evocative of an unpolished, yet more effective Bruce Lee...

Oldboy lacks absolutely nothing. Lovers of Kill Bill will lap the film up, but Oldboy is far superior. The story is quickly paced, but leaves plenty of scope for review and comprehension. Min-sik Choi trained rigorously for the role. Performing his own stunts, he is evocative of an unpolished, yet more effective Bruce Lee. The difference being that the violence in this film is central to the plot, and is extremely visceral, at one stage this reviewer had to turn away such was the carnage!

                                                   

The violence is a mere morsel of the film. Oldboy resonates with Oepidal taboos which combined with ours and Dae-Su's lack of knowledge of the complex, myserious plot, are released perfectly as the film progresses. One thing we are aware of though, is Dae-Su unyielding desire to exact vengeance upon the man who imprisoned him for 15 horrible years. The question remains, however, who is exacting revenge on whom? Who has really been locked in a prison for 15 years? 

Spend a few hours basking in the glory of this picture...

Oldboy is available on netflix.com, so I encourage you to spend a couple of hours basking in the glory of this picture. I can't help thinking that had this been an English Language film, it would be lauded as a Tarantino-esque magnum-opus, deserving a higher placing than its current positioning at 71 on imdb.com's top 250 list.

IMDB.com rating:- 8.4 from 251,168 votes

Supermegahybrid Film rating:- 5 stars

Clerks (1994) A Film Review

Starring:- Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson

Director:- Kevin Smith

                               

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Kevin Smith has for along time now been the most frustrating man in Hollywood. His humour is surreal, sickening even, but absolutely hilarious. However, at one moment he can be the on a pedestal with the great comedy directors, and sadly at other times, he sinks far too low. Dogma is a classic case. By the halfway stage I was left breathless, and in awe of the man. By the end however, I almost switched it off before the credits rolled. Herein lies the enigma of Kevin Smith; frustrating genius.

The enigmatic Kevin Smith; frustrating genius

We follow a day in the life of two hapless, yet screamingly funny, convenience store workers, Dante (O'Halloran) and his reckless friend Randal (Jeff Anderson). Unbelievable things happen to the central characters, yet we can easily see these strange goings-on happening to these two guys. O'Halloran and Anderson are mind-blowing. The viewer never doubts Dante when he berates Randal for 'knocking the casket over' at a wake the pair decide they must attend. We never for one second think that they haven't been friends for life.

Clerks. was Kevin Smith's first film, and I would say, easily his best. In fact, it must be included on everyone's must see movies of the 90s. Think of the stupidity of Naked Gun, then mix it with the twisted, mesmerising, often shocking genius of Larry David, and you're nearly there.

Clerks. flies the flag for independent movie production like no other. The whole picture cost a measly $27,500, and was shot over a 21 day period. It shows what can be achieved on such a small budget. In fact Kevin Smith actually worked at the convenience store featured in the film, but had to shoot at night whilst the store was closed.

The film is so quotable and sickeningly funny

Legions of men arriving home from the pub on a Friday night must surely throw this DVD on whilst munching on their takeaways. The film is so quotable ("I'm not even supposed to be here today!") and sickeningly funny, packed with in-jokes you'll have to watch a million times to get them all. Whilst being a comedy masterpiece, it is also a great look at small-town American life- the way potential can be thrown away in favour of an easy life. I can't believe it took me so long to discover this film.

IMBD.com Rating:- 7.9 from 154,570 ratings

Supermegahybrid Film Rating:- 4 stars 

Top Ten Most Influential Films In Cinematic History

One for the film history buffs out there now- which films have been the most influential throughout cinematic history? Are your favourites in the list? Read on....

10. Toy Story was the first film to be entirely made on a computer screen which spawned a whole new generation of children's films.

9. Jurassic Park saw Steven Spielberg completely abandon the 'stop-motion' feature. Instead he used Computer Generated Imagery, now known as CGI. Pretty much every major movie followed.

   

 8. Brokeback Mountain was the first mainstream film to feature gay matters without short-changing the issues.

7. Blue Velvet brought weirdness into the mainstream, paving the way for many films of the future.

 

6. The Exorcist legitimised the horror genre, not least because of its 10 Oscar nominations!

5. Snow White was Disney's first feature length production and sparked the start of an entire empire.



4. Star Wars was a technical masterpiece and changed the face of Hollywood, not to mention film history and the most of all the science fiction genre.



3. The Jazz Singer was the first feature to have spoken dialogue and forced cinemas to install speakers.



2. Citizen Kane reinvented cinema with overlapping dialogue, ceilinged sets, deep characterisation and the use of flashbacks completely reinventing cinematic storytelling.



1. The complete Hollywood product- Gone with the Wind's box office takings (adjusted values) are second to none. This film is the one that all others are measured by.