BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

ap-80628 Often referred to as the first movie in the revenge trilogy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (hereafter SMV) is director Park's first attempt at examining revenge as a motif. The film does not address the moral, psychological, and social complexities of revenge and struggles of the characters involved. Those emerge in his later films. The principle of revenge in SMV might be aptly characterized as lex talionis, an eye for an eye, tooth for tooth. That's what the movie is about: pure, unadulterated revenge for an injustice done. Even cannibalism finds its way into the narrative as an act of vengeance. For fans who have enjoyed other revenge-oriented films such as Kill Bill, SMV's treatment of revenge is simply delicious. The injustice that starts the revenge cycle is both natural and man-made: The primary character's (Ryu) sister needs a kidney transplant, and he needs to come up with $10,000. He decides to sell his kidney, only to be duped by con artists: they steal his kidney, and he loses the money for his sister's operation. Ryu wants revenge; his sister realizes her role in the sequence of events and exacts revenge (of sorts); Boss Park avenges his daughter who accidentally dies during the kidnapping-for-ransom process; Cha Young-Mi's colleagues exact revenge upon Boss Park. The wheels of revenge turn round and round with the aforementioned characters.The fates of the characters involved in the story are implicitly connoted in the first twelve minutes of the film, when Cha Young-Mi writes a judgment pronouncement against the person who has yet to harm her; the primary character (Ryu) unwittingly encounters his swindlers while he is in a most vulnerable and defenseless state, literally holding his manhood in his hand. Boss Park's former employee demands his job back for years of faithful service. Boss Park's hand is slashed as a sign of things to come.Director Park's use of sound is particularly acute in the film. The characters, both primary and secondary, learn about the lives of others through background noise that is brought into the foreground. This audio technique creates a sense of anxiety and uneasiness about the peace and tranquility of a scene; that is, the background noise that is brought into the foreground creates anticipation in the viewer; the viewer knows something is about to happen, will happen, but is left unsure. For example, Ryu successfully returns with the money in hand; the scene is a happy one; he is playful; the kidnapping victim is happy. Yet, the pervasive sound of water running over a basin reverberates across the ears of the viewer. In another, viewers are treated to a comical sight of a communal masturbation session, only to reveal that the sound of their whack ammunition are not what they appear to be. Boss Park learns about Ryu through the hollow walls of Ryu's apartment. One relationship that has not been fully explored is an intrafamilial one: that between Ryu and his sister. Although the film shows them sleeping on the same floor, this is not necessarily indicative of any sexual interest. Sleeping in the same room, under the same blanket is normative practice for those who are poor. However, there are other moments when the director wants us to think otherwise. Although Ryu can't hear his upstairs neighbors having sex, his sister can: she can't sleep. She can't sleep so Ruy can't sleep. When Ryu is giving his sister a sponge bath, the sister's playful laughter as Ryu approaches sensitive areas leads the viewer to at least entertain the idea of intrafamilial sexual relations. (Park's second movie perverts this notion to unimaginable depths.) In this vein, director Park's use of siblings and family members closely mirror's Kafka's novels where there is an ambiguous relationship between the male protagonist and his sister. Viewers are left to wonder. Viewers are not left to wonder about the primal and visceral nature of revenge in SMV.

Prashast Singh Movie: Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (18)Rating: 4.5/5Revenge movies have always been my taste. South Korean filmmakers have a great skill in churning out excellent revenge films, with OLDBOY and I SAW THE DEVIL being the best examples. While these films have grown into being classics ever since they released, Park Chan-wook, the director of the former film, gave another solid revenge film even before it came out. The film, SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE, is to say simply one of the best revenge films to come out from South Korea. Well-written and well- timed, there's a lot one can take home after watching this film.SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE, as the title itself says, is a film about revenge and thus it's no spoiler. In its overall duration, there wasn't even a single dull moment and the film was livened up by a solid execution along with some top notch performances and the screenplay. Song Kang-ho is one of my favourite South Korean actors, and he proves why. He portrays every emotion with perfection. He breathes and rather, lives the role of Park Dong-jin. Shin Ha-kyun is excellent as Ryu, and his performance will definitely have you rooting for him in certain scenes. Doona Bae as Cha Yeong-mi has a lot to do, but delivers only occasionally. Other actors, including Han Bo-bae and Lim Ji-Eun are excellent too.The film's editing is commendable, along with the cinematography being another major plus. The action is brutally intense and well executed on screen. There are some gruesome scenes as well, but they aren't too extreme to be very difficult to watch. This must indicate that this film isn't for kids or even, the faint-hearted. The emotional scenes are quite effective and manage to make you feel for the characters. The screenplay is excellent with no major hindrances to storytelling, eventually leading to a powerful and effective climax. The only flaw is that the story is a little convoluted in a few scenes due to which many might not be able to understand what happened. Apart from it, there is no such flaws you'll find. Just start watching it. You won't even wish to find any. To sum up, SYMPATHY FOR MR VENGEANCE is a powerful and intense action thriller which raises the bar for South Korean revenge movies, eventually finding its top position in the list of the best movies of the World Cinema. You may definitely watch it, and it would be better if you watch it as soon as possible. Better catch it on a Blu-ray, to experience the depth with which the cinematography captures the fine visuals in this dark yet entertaining film.

harihar90 While stylishly shot and crafted (especially in its handling of the twin narrative threads) the movie is ultimately a failed exercise in exploring the nature of revenge as the characters felt sterile. When the plot and themes are as clear and straight forward as they are here, the only reason to take as long as this film does to get to its point could be to establish the audience empathy for the characters. But by cutting away from the characters' faces during the few moments when they actually betray any emotion and by relentless jumps in time that made the film feel like a bunch of vignettes, the film made me feel more and more alienated from them. And without any interest in the characters, the long sequence with (needlessly) large amounts of splattery stuff on scene ended up feeling tedious rather than shocking.

Maarten Again (this is part 3 of this review - look for part 1 and 2 first)As Park Chan-Wook has explained himself, his trilogy of vengeance is about guilt, or the ways of a guilty conscience. In this first of the three films, he points at guilt by taking it away, by making it absent. Ryu might be taken responsible for kidnapping Yu-sun but her death is a mere accident; even the person causing her to wake up and fall into the water might not be taken responsible, for his severe handicap. And how would we adhere Dong-jin guilt, as he is drawn into this cycle of violence by Ryu? He never asked for this. It just happened to him.(I'm almost done..)Over 'here' (the west), Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance got released after the latter OldBoy and most of it's supposed flaws have been defined as what of Oldboy it is not: less 'signature'- violence, less kinetic cinematography, less story drive, less speed. Also, people complain about the nihilist style, the story-progress where the real events seem to start only halfway the film, and the un-identifiability of it's characters. They are all right, and therefor wrong.OldBoy indeed is what Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is not: there is the good guy/bad guy set-up (with some twists and nuances of shared guilt), the identifiable character (allthough unsympathetic at first, still the victim of the story and therefor our (anti-)hero), flashy scenes of violence, some wickedly imaginative and therefor enjoyable forms of violence, some more sex, a classic three act story structure, nice build-ups of suspense, twists, secrets and revelations, and a climactic ending with big confessions and a one-to-one ultimate fight on a great location. Hurray.Instead, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance has a rhythm and imagery of surgical precision; it's violence is minimalistic, but absolute, and therefor horrific (mistakenly taken as sensational), and not enjoyable. It's story is constructed beyond genius, as I have been trying to prove. It strives to tell more than it's storyline. It's not giving us answers or closed endings. It is not a comfortable film and it's not it's aim to be enjoyable. It's fantastic and compelling nonetheless. Sympathy for Mr Vengeance is a true artistic masterpiece, to be watched over and over again, because it makes you think. It makes you realize. OldBoy is a very, very good night out.