Sunday, June 04, 2006

Oldboy (2003)

Synopsis: Man is incarcerated for 15 years for apparently no reason. 
Appraisal: The experience of watching this movie has been mostly negative for me, as I could not detect enough cinematic virtues in it to motivate me to develop a strong interest in the resolution of the main mystery. While post facto I acknowledge a certain ingenuity to the whole proceedings, the fact remains that said proceedings are full of annoying features that ultimately ruin the movie. To begin with, there is the inevitable sequence (an eternal obsession in Asian movies) of one man defeating dozens of well trained enemies with just, what, willpower? While that may prove interesting in martial arts films, here it is just out of place. Then there is the incapacity of portraying female characters with any depth. I think the resonance the film found among audiences may be due to some cathartic effect its over-the-top brutality might have on angst-ridden adolescents, but that of course would not explain why that resonance extends to adults as well... or would it? After all, isn't it old boys we are talking about here? Anyway I stick to the point that cinematically the film is mostly dull, even though it displays some visual flare due to its competent camerawork. 
Rating: 39

2 comments:

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