Lady Vendetta

i usually don't enjoy movies that contain gore, suspense, and violence. still, sympathy for lady vengeance was undoubtedly, a movie worth watching. even for those who actively dislike movies in this certain genre, sympathy for lady vengeance is an absolute must. out of the trilogy, this one was the one i enjoyed most. there was nothing overly-excessive and/or gratuitous (which i honestly found oldboy and sympathy for mr vengeance had a bit of), and it definitely cannot be considered a brain-candy film. with an extremely intelligent and interesting plot, and visually stunning cinematography, it was a spectacular piece of art, from the start to the finish, and had me thinking about it and talking about it for days afterward.

After thirteen and half years in prison for kidnapping and murdering the boy Park Won-mo, Geum-ja Lee (Yeong-ae Lee) is released and tries to fix her life. She finds a job in a bakery; she orders the manufacturing of a special weapon; she reunites with her daughter, who was adopted by an Australian family; and she plots revenge against the real killer of Won-mo, the English teacher Mr. Baek (Min-sik Choi). With the support of former inmates from prison, Geum-ja seeks an unattained redemption with her vengeance.

"Lady Vengeance" is a very dark tale of vengeance and search for redemption. The screenplay is confused in some moments, using symbols and metaphors, but the story is engaging blending black humor and unpleasant and bold scenes of torture and death of children with a harsh revenge. Yeong-ae Lee has a magnificently performance in the role of Geum-ja along almost fourteen years of her life. I am a big fan of Chan-wook Park, and I regret that in Brazil the first movie of his trilogy about vengeance ("Boksuneun Naui Geot" a.k.a. "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance") has not been released yet. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Lady Vingança" ("Lady Vengeance")

Aged 19, Geum-ja Lee confesses as the woman who abducted and murdered the child Won-mo Park. At the time the tabloids cause a clamour against her but this dies down once she is inside and forgotten. She is reached out to inside and finds faith and redemption. However almost 14 years later she is released and decides she no longer has need for this and sets out to catch up with those she knew from inside her prison, all the while working up to her plan to take revenge on the man who robbed her of this chunk of her life.

Having surprised myself by how much I liked Oldboy, I decided to watch this film as a follow-up. For the majority of it, the story has enough to it to hold the interest easily; the actual core deed is not as interesting on its own as it is shorn of the mystery of Oldboy, however in theory this means it is more about the people and the emotional impact of the act and the vengeance more than the violence. I say in theory because I must be honest and say that I found it a lot less emotionally engaging than I would have liked. In some ways it is strong in this area but mostly it didn't have the heart that I thought it was trying to get to. The narrative is still enough to fill the running time but the second half is, dare I say it, a bit duller than it should have been just because the humanity wasn't there.

Park must shoulder some responsibility for this but he does make up for it with the style and delivery that drew me into Oldboy. He has scaled it back from that (hence the feeling that this was meant to be more about the heart) but it is still visually engaging and uses various techniques to enhance the delivery. Yeong-ae Lee appears to have been given more insight into the material than I was because her delivery is full of emotion and hurt. She brings it out whenever she can but for some reason the film generally doesn't support her in this. The support cast are mostly good but the film belongs to her and is best when the scenes centre on either her story or her character.

Overall though, not as good as the praise and ratings here would suggest but still an engaging film on several levels. Stylish and interesting it only stuttered by being surprisingly emotionally muted for large chunks where I felt it needed to be more convincing and impacting. Fans of the other Park films will enjoy it as a conclusion to the trilogy but it is hard not to feel that it could have done more.

Just got the Korean 2 DVD set and watched the B/W version first. All I can say is that, this film is a masterpiece! I was very moved and if you do one more thing in your life before you die, see this film!

Of course, I use the term "masterpiece" in its true sense, as the work which reveals an artist's achievement of "mastery" over his or her craft. Don't be confused with the latter conotation that a masterpiece is a "perfect" work. Could there ever be such a thing? Truly, this film shows the original sense of the word, such that I would be nervous seeing any subsequent films from him.

There are two versions of the film. I checked the colour version, and besides the opening credits being slightly different, and the much talked about retaining of colour throughout, it appears to be exactly the same.

I am sure your are all familiar with the premise, but I think that the less you know, the better. At it's basic level, this film follows in the classic "quest for revenge" schema. A beautiful woman is condemned to 13 and a half years of incarceration for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy. By this theme, the film connects to the previous entries in the now Vengeance "Trilogy", but it is in no way a rerun.

Just like the other two films, (Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance is gorgeous. The design in the film is extraordinary, and there are so many frames that are simply beautiful. The use of colour and light is inspirational in some parts, and I really can't think of watching any version but the "fading" one. Maybe it's because I saw that version first, but I didn't find the colour version as deeply affecting.

I think that which is better will be a personal decision for all who see this film. There are a some points where the fading version is very effective with what becomes subdued spots of colour. Yet, the characters in the film are also colourful, and fleshed out enough so that the viewer gets to know them, but not enough that they know them completely.

The past is something hidden for these characters, in many ways that is a thematic point of the film. The film is truly about redemption, and as we follow the moving drama within we may even come to understand something within ourselves. It is truly a fitting end to this three film exploration into hate remorse and revenge.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, in this case some 17 years old, as Geum-ja Lee plots, ways that Mr. Baek rots, it's a beautiful thing to behold.

Cinematic poetry in motion, a sensual blast of emotion, such fortitude and drive, such cunning to contrive, the passion, the focus, intense devotion (can also be said of Woo-jin Lee in Old Boy).