Oldboy Movie Review

     Oldboy is the story of a Korean man Dae-su Oh who is released, after being abducted and then imprisoned for fifteen years, and his mission to discover who incarcerated him and why so he can take revenge.

     Oldboy begins with the introduction of Dae-su Oh in police custody due to his public drunkenness. He is bailed out of jail by a friend, and then has him call his daughter because it is her birthday. After Dae-su Oh finishes talking to his daughter his friend takes over and that is the last his friend ever sees of him for he simply seems to disappear, leaving only his birthday present for his daughter, angel wings, deserted on the pavement. You then see Dae-su Oh live fifteen years in captivity, watching him slowly morph, get stringer, angrier, and more vengeful. You watch him slowly pick at his cell wall and make a hole to escape and then a day before he would have been able to break out through his hole he is drugged and dumped on the rooftop of a building. Having gained his freedom he is determined to take revenge on those who imprisoned him so he goes on a quest to find them. Along the way he meets a woman, Mi-do, who instantly entrances him, she becomes his aid in his endeavor for revenge, and his source of physical contact and sexual release, which he has been craving due to his extended solitary confinement. Dae-su Oh’s foe taunts him and challenges him to focus on figuring out why he imprisoned him instead of simply who he is. Dae-su Oh finally discover that his aggressor is someone from his high school named Woo-jin Lee, a boy who he had seen in sexual relations with his own sister; Dae-su Oh had started the rumor about their sibling insest and sadly this rumor ended in the sister’s suicide. When Dae-su Oh confronts Woo-jin Lee, Woo-jin Lee reveals what his true revenge was for Dae-su Oh, Mi-do is in fact Dae-su Oh’s daughter. Woo-jin Lee leaves Dae-su Oh with one final question, "My sister and I loved each other despite everything. Can you two do the same?" Subsequently Woo-jin Lee kills himself and Dae-su Oh pleads with the hypnotist,that originally tricked him, to erase his memory that Mi-do is his daughter so that they can live out the rest of their days happily ever after.

     The main theme prevalent throughout the movie is that of time. Throughout Oldboy clocks are used as transitions between scenes to emphasize the preciousness of time. Dae-su Oh spends fifteen years incarcerated, that time was stolen from him and he is on a mission to discover why it was stolen from him. Time is one of the only commodities that can never be returned for once it is gone it is lost forever, which is what makes it so precious. Another theme present the entire movie but only explained toward the end is the theme of incest and it’s consequences. Woo-jin Lee and his sister had sexual relations and that concluded with her death, while Dae-su Oh and his daughter are forced into ignorance and isolation. The story of Dae-su Oh and his daughter follows the Electra complex because Mi-do has sex with her father and although she does not kill her mother her mother is dead.

     Oldboy was greatly influence by Hitchcock, firstly is focuses on a man who is falsely accused. Dae-su Oh writes in multiple journals about his experience his cell and about who could have ordered his abduction and imprisonment. Dae-su Oh admits he has done bad things in the past but he is unable to remember a trespass that would warrant his punishment. He cannot fathom who is so hateful of him to impart such a punishment for he is simply unable to remember such a seemingly minuscule high school act that had such a large effect, so in his eyes he is the victim and he has the right to seek vengeance of his imprisoners. Another Hitchcockian theme present in Oldbot is that of frames within frames. This influence can most notable be seen by the artificial window with Dae-su Oh’s cell. This window portrays an illuminated photo of a farm with a windmill which eludes to a sense of freedom which is out of reach for Dae-su Oh. This intangible environment is a form of subconscious torture the prison contains for the place is just within reach but it is permanently unattainable.
     Overall, I really enjoyed watching Oldboy because it was so warped and ended by making you ask yourself the question of you could do what Dae-su Oh does and knowingly commit yourself to ignorance knowing that f you do so you will repeatedly be fornicating with you daughter for the rest of your life.