Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

This is a really great, stylish movie. The lead's green hair is a little precious (he was an art student!), but Ryu is a great character. He's a deaf mute with a sister badly in need of a kidney--and he's the wrong blood type. That could be really schmaltzy, or really contrived...okay, actually it's a little of both, now that I think about it. But during the movie, I didn't.

Park has tied one hand behind his back by taking on a character who can't speak, but he actually turns it to his advantage. In one scene we learn that Ryu is double-shifting; a bell rings and all of the workers get up and leave. Ryu stares after them...and sits down wearily. After a few moments, more workers arrive and he gets up and starts to work again. That told me more about the character than ten voiceovers.

It also prepares us for another great scene, in which Ryu is fired; we see the boss extend his hand so that it looms threateningly in the foreground of the frame; Ryu puts his grimy thumb in red ink and presses it on the contract. This isn't the most dexterously political film, but if you feel strongly about Obamacare or multinational banks, it may resonate a little with you. Maybe Park is trying to say that the carnage in this film is nobody's fault except that of "the system"...I can't say. But that's as plausible an explanation as any.

Park kind of has a reputation as a really gory director; if you really like this kind of thing, then you might like this film for all the wrong reasons. If you don't like this kind of thing, you might hate this film...also for all the wrong reasons.

While there are moments where it's hard to watch, it actually didn't make me as squeamish as, say, Requiem for a Dream, and not because I didn't care about the characters, but because Park genuinely tries to spare us. There's a scene where a father is watching his daughter's autopsy, and the camera stays on him the entire time; only the soundtrack hints at what he's seeing. Okay, more than "hints at": it's actually pretty horrific despite the fact that it's all sound and no visual.

I have a few minor technical quibbles; I've complained about fades-to-black before, and this film is riddled with them. Also, there's a totally unnecessary voiceover at the end, that might as well say, "do you remember this earlier plot point which is suddenly relevant? No? Well, here it is again!"

On the one hand, I can't wait to see another one of Park's films. On the other hand, I'm not sure I ever want to. Maybe I'll try his film Lady Vengeance and see if I can discern some kind of a pattern.