@@yeojescobal6573It's true that it's based on a Japanese manga, but the story content itself is completely different from the manga Oldboy and the movie Oldboy. The movie version of Oldboy was first made in Korea.
"How did they adapt this for American audiences?" They made it much worse. If you recall the questionable consent speech from Mi-Do, it's not just the director being a weirdo, it's directly explained by the villain's brainwashing. The sex scene, while long for a man who hasn't had any for 15 years, was necessary for the full gut punch for the reveal, just implying it wasn't enough but showing them passionately together makes you really reel back during the reveal. Especially when the audio starts playing. If you notice, Mi-Do was only 3 when he was abducted, making her only 18 here to add insult to injury. And since the villain new he would be dependent for gratification on the TV, he started planting the seeds of that twisted relationship by playing her cooking show on his TV (which is why he recognized her). Presumably he had been _going off_ to her for years. That one-shot fight has become iconic. Anytime you see a hallway ineshot filmed from the side missing one wall, where it ends with the camera looking at him looking forward while seeing the pile of bodies, it's an Oldboy reference. Movies, TV, and video games love to pay homage to it.
This movie is actually part of a trilogy the other two being "sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" made in 2002 and "Lady vengeance" made in 2005. The other two are really great as well.
I LOVE Symapthy for Mr. Vengeance, didn't like Lady Vengeance tbh, but Park Chaan Wook is one of the finest directors working right now, can't wait for his movie this year.
I remember I saw this movie just before I started my soldier training here in Sweden so I showed this movie to my entire building in the military and almost no one but me in the tv room appreciated what a masterpiece Old Boy actually was. They where all just disgusted by the incest stories.
Yeah people just don't pay attention anymore and want constant fight scenes, cgi, and oneliners. If you think I'm just being a snob, look at what the best selling movies are these days.
I have a weird relationship with this movie. Well, not weird, but I love it for additional reasons than most other people too. I study ancient (Greek) philology and Old Boy is in many ways a retelling of a Greek tragedy (I'm not saying which one because it's a heavy spoiler and there might still be some people in the comments who decide to actually watch the movie before the reaction, who knows). The whole trilogy is based on the way Greek theater was done, with 3 tragedies in a row, that often share a motive or thematic but not a story (of course, some DO actually share a chronology, like the Thebes tragedies, but let's not split hairs here). But apart from that (and some other reasons) it's still just ALSO a solid movie.
About the Swidish family that, in theory, had adopted the daughter. He says the name of the family was Stockholm. That is a reference to the Stockholm syndrome, a psychological condition in which the person who was kidnapped fell for the abuser, not necessarily falling in love or sexually (although usually yes), but at least empathizing with that person and justifying their actions. So it was in fact a fake name. So maybe it's about Lee wanting Daesu acknowledging and empathizing with Lee himself by going through the same experience of loosing someone who he loves or falling for a related person maybe. Also the name for Daesu is sort of an anagram for the way coreans call Oedipus. The movie haves tons of interesting clues and references that are hard to decipher the first time you watch. (sorry about the English... never studied it)
I would recommend rewatching this movie on your own guys (alone). I remember being sick of this movie the first time I watched it. But the movie didn't get out of my head for two weeks, and I rewatched it. And now it is one of the best movies ever for me
Yes.....watching this movie alone is the best...i watched it on Dec 31 night after 12 i.e on new year night...idk i just wanted to start my year with that movie and i felt the movie.... masterpiece 🛐
Hoo boy, you guys opened pandora's box which is Korean cinema. Memories of Murder, The Host, A Bittersweet Life, Parasite, Mother, etc. Can't wait to see what's next.
저는 이 작품을 이렇게 해석을 했습니다. 자신의 누나를 사랑했던 남자의 삶의 목표가 오대수에게 복수하는것 이기에 그 복수라는것이 본인이 가장 힘들었던것을 오대수에게 그대로 돌려주는것으로 복수를 했고, 그 복수가 삶의 이유였기에 그는 오대수가 여자로서 사랑하는 미도가 오대수의 딸이였음을 알리고 자살을 했다고 생각해요. 그리고 혀를 자르는 장면은 죽을때까지 미도에게 본인이 아버지라고 말하지 않기위한 상징적인 장면으로 생각을 했습니다.
One thing about the "Eating an Octopuss alive" scene. I am very against animal cruelty in movies, unless it serves a very clear artistic role. Then I still don't like it, but I accept it. If it's done for comedy or just shock value, then it's badly done, but if it conveys a message, then it's acceptable. The "eating something alive", Daesu wanted was another allegory for revenge. He didn't just want to sate his own hunger, that's not what his life was about anymore, he wanted to destroy something living. Specifically the person who imprisoned him. Arguably it could have been taken out, since there's a LOT of allegories for revenge, but I still think it's an important scene, because he also feints from it and the octopuss squirms around in him. Revenge can lead to self destruction. It's a very good metaphor, even if it's a disgusting scene. It's not just shock value
@@user-ge8np2iy4g Being disgusted by something, that other people do isn’t ignorant. It’s called opinion. It’s not good. It’s not bad. It’s just existent.
@@user-ge8np2iy4g That’s right, but do you know, he hasn’t studied it yet? Following your own ideology you should have asked him whether he knows about this specific part of culture before you judged him as an ignorant.
So at 4:56 - it goes through like major news that every Korean would remember throughout that time from the late 80s until early 2000s, and this coincides with the time when Korea transitioned from the military dictatorship (officially ended in 1987 but the right hand man of the dictator was in office until 1992) to a full-on democracy by the 2000s and a major IT powerhouse as well
old boy is one of my first Korean movies I watched. loved the movie honestly. I would probably rate it 9/10 because it is very creative. it's a movie with a niche audience.
Too bad they are missing the whole point of this movie just because of a few scenes they didn't like This is one of the most brilliant movies of all time
I just caught this today. Congrats on the 1000 subscribers. Funny how time has gone by since then and you both have build yourselves a nice RU-vid following. ❤
The remake is one of the worst films ever made. it waters down the whole film and spoils the original's ending, while making the "villain," into a freak from a groomed incest family, instead of an innocent brother and sister getting caught up in rumors.
"how did they adapt that for america?" To be honest, I don't want to watch it and I don't know if I ever will because I'm very scared to cringe to death..
I'm sure someone else has mentioned it in the comments, but if you want to watch another movie by the same director that is not as brutally depressing (although it is still violent and has some pretty wild sex scenes), I would recommend The Handmaiden. You get the level of craft that went into this one but it won't make you queasy -- although I don't want to say too much more about it. I certainly think Simone would like it more than so many of the other recommendations I see at a glance, which are similarly horrifying, even if they're great.
I've seen basically everything by this director except an early pre-Joint Security Area film that I've had trouble finding but he is easily in my top 5 directors of all time, up there with Kubrick or Tarkovsky, I've yet to see one I didn't like by him, even his less serious stuff like "I'm a Cyborg but That's OK" or his piece in "Three...extremes" is really unique...
I love how you guys are speechless after watching the movie. I saw this near the time it was released, a friend of mine who was studying art direction lend it to me, it was a traumatic experience really. After that I have watched it several times, the soundtrack is so good. It has a lot of information decoded in it, I think, about what it takes to achieve success, as a subplot. I notice that as Parasite this has a lecture element to it, almost like a personal rant against, in this case, people who run their mouth, a little personal revenge, maybe it's cultural. Great film. Cool reaction, seeing every one's particular sensitivity to the film, very interesting.
If you think about it, in this movie the the bad guy won but in I Saw The Devil, the good guy won, however in both movie Cho Min Sik loses because he play the good guy in this movie and the bad guy in I Saw The Devil. Lol
For me the most unnerving about the movie was how it ended. The choice he made to get hypnotized. But it wasn't shown here and you guys didn't discuss it. Was that cut from the version you saw?
Even Tarantino was crying and said this movie is one of a kind and it happens once in 10 years. These reviewers are regular Santa Barbara lovers, they shouldn't even do review on such a genre
"If he hasn’t had sex in 15 years, this sequence shouldn’t be as long as it is.” I too, remember how innocent I was when I first watched that scene not knowing the revelation
You guys should definitely watch Korean movies I saw the Devil or Memories of Murder or Mother. Or you could watch Indian movie Aamis. All twisted movies. PS: This was an enjoyable reaction to watch.
Props to y'all for reacting to this. The American version isn't horrible (and Spike Lee will always be one of my favorite directors) but it just doesn't hit the same when you see the original first. I watched this randomly one day on Netflix, I wanna say around 2019 or so, and I was deeply disturbed on many levels...for days. But I immediately knew this was one of best films I'd ever seen with one of the craziest stories, cause only a great film can affect people like that.
If you're familiar with the movie The Departed, that was a hollywood remake of Infernal Affairs, a Hong kong movie. Not sure exactly what inspired New World, im told there was a comic that inspired all of them, but the korean New World is a korean version with a few differences. Anyway, the actor from oldboy is in that and there's a particular twist towards the end of that, that's a little tribute to this (in it's own way). You'll get it when you see it. Aside from that, the 'revenge trilogy' was Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. They are all great movies. However another one that gets overlooked is The Chaser. Neither of them are happy movies mind you, so you'd have to be in a particular mindset to watch them. There was an ind1an movie called Ugly, which takes themes from Mr Vengeance and The Chaser. It's also a must watch. The director of Ugly was obv influenced by korean cinema and it was nice to see something without the cringey bollywood stuff (i dont watch those but have seen a few of the big ones eg the movie 'PK' which was fun...still came with cringe but it was overall amusing).
