Lady Vengeance

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).

I had the luxury of watching this last night and was awed by it's sheer brilliance. I don't want to delve into the story, as you must see it for yourself to savor the fantastic story like a glass of red wine.

The story revolves around a young woman sentence to jail due to murdering a young boy. Upon release she then embarks on a journey of redemption for the crime committed.

The cast's acting is impeccable on all sides. with sumptuous photography and a moving musical score consisting of such great composers as Vivaldi.

If you are a lover of foreign cinema this is a definite DO NOT MISS movie!

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.

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.

"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is a surprisingly poetic finale to Park's excellent Revenge Trilogy. The film fuses the relatively low-key style of "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" with the jet-black humor of "Oldboy," while adding welcome moments of poignancy and sentiment. The film is nowhere near as violent as its predecessors, although a good deal of mayhem takes place offscreen.

Yeong-ae Lee is outstanding as the troubled protagonist Geum-ja, the ex-convict who is seeking redemption as much as revenge. Although the supporting actors -- including several from Park's earlier films -- are uniformly fine, Lee's performance is the heart of the film.

"Lady Vengeance" is difficult to describe without revealing major plot points, as the most memorable scenes come at revelatory moments in the story. Suffice it to say that the climax blends tragedy and hilarity with a degree of success that few directors could hope to match.

9/10. Bravo.