Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2020
Images from the Internet
The films reviewed here are, in alphabetical order:
Lady Vengeance (2005; Vengeance
Trilogy Part 3)
Old Boy (2005; Vengeance
Trilogy Part 2)
The Promise (2006)
SPL: Kill Zone (2005)
Survive Style 5+ (2005)
Sympathy for Mr.
Vengeance (2002; Vengeance Trilogy Part 1)
Three Extremes (2004)
This particular blog is dedicated to the late, great
Dermont Bruce, who introduced me to these films.
Lady Vengeance (aka Chinjeolhan geumjassi;
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance)
Directed by Chan-wook Park
CJ Entertainment; Tartan Films; Moho Films; MVD
Entertainment
115 minutes, 2005
Being the third in the
Vengeance Trilogy, this film shares a secondary theme with the others of false
imprisonment. Other films had kidnappings, being bound, being locked up for
personal reasons, and in this case, Geum-ja Lee (Yeong-ae Lee) being locked
away in a prison for 13 years for the murder of a child, returning to the
concept of “a good kidnapping vs. a bad kidnapping” he established in Sympathy
for Mr. Vengeance. However, being bound is not out of the picture.
Even before she is let
out, she is being stalked by a creepy Preacher (Kim Byeong-ok). He is trying to
help her find the Lord, but you can tell his motives are suspect as he also has
a thing for her. One of the socio-political commentaries woven repeatedly into
the narrative is the hypocrisy of religion, and how it is used to coerce and
justify evil actions as much as “save.” One could also see this as a statement
about the conditions of the penitentiaries in South Korea, and the justice
system.
Lee is an interesting
character with two tones. She can be sweet as pie, making allegiances by helping
others in prison to the point of donating a kidney, but it’s all for a purpose
to put her plan of revenge into play. She’s had 13 years to work on it, and
piece by piece, is reaching for her goal.
The story flashes back
and forth between the present, post-release, and her activities inside the prison,
explaining how she gained her alliances. And when she gets back her 14 year old
daughter from a couple in Australia (who does not speak Korean), it complicates
matters. Park does not take easy routes to his conclusions.
The prison scenes
could easily have been the inspiration for the likes of “Orange is the New
Black.” He uses a bit of humor in a very dire situation quite well, which
elevates these scenes.
As for the last act,
which is reminiscent of M (1931), it is simply heartbreaking, frankly. A
situation no one wants to imagine themselves in; Stephen King said this type of
event is something that is his one big fear. While we have sympathy for Lee, we
have none for Mr. Baek (Min-sik Choi, star of Park’s earlier film, Oldboy),
the focus of her revenge.
Oldboy (aka Oldeuboi)
Directed by Chan-wook Park
CJ Entertainment; Show East; Egg Films; MVD
Entertainment
120 minutes, 2005
Chan Woo-park (Korea)
and Takashi Miike (Japan) are arguably
to Asian extreme cinema what Argento and Fulci are to Italian giallo. Oldboy is considered not only one of Wook-park’s core masterworks, but it is
noteworthily near the top of the genre in general. It was remade in the US in 2013
with Josh Brolin in the title role, but it has been generally ridiculed
compared to the original, which is the second of Woo-park’s Vengeance Trilogy.
After a drunken night, Dae-su Oh (Min-sik Choi) is unexpectedly kidnapped
and kept locked up in an abandoned hotel room for years, with no explanation.
While he’s away, his wife is murdered, and he is the prime suspect. Meanwhile,
Dae-su practices boxing, writing, and he watches television, with nothing else
to do for hours on end, day after day. Just as unexpected, as he is ready to
make an escape, he find himself released, given clothes, money, and a cell
phone.
He is taken in by a sushi chef, Mi-do (attractive Hye-jeong Kang, who
would go on to play the shrill Director’s Wife in the “Cut” segment of Three…Extremes) a year later.
Thing is, after all those years, our (old)boy is a bit tetched in the head.
He’s rightfully paranoid, though, but mostly, he’s pretty fearless. He will (and
does) face a hallway full of gangsters and hammers his way through it. It’s a
methodical game to his capturer, Woo-jin Lee (Ji-Tae Yoo) that Dae-su has no choice
but to play, but he is also a willing participant to find out why everything is
happening to him.
The ending (I won’t give it away) is both beautiful and creepy at the
same time, in a sentimental way.
Beyond the story, part of what makes this film so memorable is how it
is shot. The cinematography is stunning, especially the hallway scene, and I
would specifically like to point out the transition editing between scenes.
Just wow. It is no surprise why this is considered one of the director’s crowning
achievements.
The Promise (aka Wu ji; Master of the
Crimson Armor)
Directed by Kaiji Chen
21 Century Shengkai Films; China Film Group; Moonstone
Entertainment
121 minutes, 2006
In the West, we have
epic tales of battles with the gods interfering in mortal realms. Just look at The
Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Bible as examples. Mythology is full of
these tales. Well, the same can be said about the Far East. In this case it is the
snippy female Chinese goddess Manshen (Hong Chen) who forces people to make
decisions that are detrimental to their lives at desperate times. First there’s
pauper Quingcheng (lovely Cecelia Chung), who must never love because she will lose
her lovers, in exchange for riches. For the general Guangming (Hiroyuki Sanada,
who was in Ringu in 1998 and a few Marvel Universe releases), it was a
wager that saw him lose his honor and victories. The third piece of this is the
general’s slave, Kunlun (dashing Dong-Gun Jang, of Korea’s best-selling film Friend,
from 2001).
Like many of the
period pieces such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), people had
nearly magical martial arts powers that could see them spin thirty feet in the
air, jump from tree to tree (or rooftop to rooftop), or in this case, Kunlun
could outrun a herd of bulls on his knees, carrying someone on his back; he
reminds me more of Conan the Barbarian in style (Conan…Kunlun…hmm),
without the bulging biceps – and he’s a lot more handsome than Mr. Austria, but
I digress… Mysticism isn’t just for gods, apparently, especially since Kunlun
comes from the “land of snow” (just as Conan is from Siberia).
There are two other
interesting characters, namely a pasty-faced assassin in a black robe named
Snow Wolf (Ye Liu, who steals all his scenes), and a fey evil Duke named, I kid
you not, Wuhan (Nicholas Tse); this is the kind of villain Basil Rathbone would
have played in the 1930s-‘40s.
Of course, there’s
lots of actions with large scale battles, sword fights, martial arts, and a
multitude of death. But with the epic feel and soaring music (and humans), as
most of these stories are, this is a love story. The question is, of course, whose
love story as there is the usual Shakespearean-level identity mix-ups, and
emotionally fraught desires (again, to a swelling, orchestrated soundtrack). It
is beautifully shot with lots of CGI, cherry blossoms and luscious landscapes.
A treat for the eye from the director of the infamous Farewell My Concubine
(1993).
SPL: Saat po long (aka SPL: Kill Zone)
Directed by Wilson Yip (aka YipWai Shun)
Abba Movies Co. Ltd.; 1618 Action Limited; Celestial
Pictures; Greek Mythology Entertainment Company; MVD Entertainment
93 minutes, 2005
Whatcha gonna do when
you got so little to lose? Police Inspector Chan (Simon Yam) is miffed. His key
witness to send up crime lord Wong Po (Sammo Hung, who is well known to the
Kung Fu fans and American audience through the television show “Martial Law” from
the late 1990s) has been killed, as is the family of his goddaughter (why they
were in the same car seems kind of WTF to me, but whatever). He also has
learned he has a health condition. This leads to him taking some chances with
dealing with Po. But now there’s a new sheriff in town, Ma Kwan (super-duper
chopper star Donnie Yen), who is taking over Chan’s post as he retires. But is
Chan giving up against Po? Well, what are the odds of that? And will it be
violent? As a reminder, the title of this is Kill Zone.
Story-wise, this could
have been a pretty decent police procedural show, but this ain’t no CSI or
Law and Order: [Fill in the Blank]. This four man police team is not
above stretching the rules to get what they want, especially after one of them
seems to be mistaken for a fairway. They take Sean Connery’s “They pull a
knife, you pull a gun” speech from The Untouchables (1987) to heart. It
goes on the verge of vigilantism. Maybe not as hardcore as Magnum Force (1973),
but definitely beyond the borderline.
What I was really
looking forward to, more than the action with Yam, was Yen and Hung gettin’ it
on mano-a-mano (or rén-yû-rén). Both are masters in the chop-chop
flip-flop, and Yen is also a world-leader in martial chorography. We get a hint
of it at the almost one-third point, but I want a battle royal (as opposed to a
Royale with Cheese).
To complicate things,
Yam and Po actually have some personality traits in common, such as Yam and his
toddler goddaughter (who amusingly looks the same after a three-year jump), and
Po with his new infant daughter. These are family men in careers where death
can be around the corner. And then there is the question of whether Ma is on
the side of the cops, or workin’ for the Po man. Don’t worry, I won’t tell.
Though I will add that Jing Wu plays a persuasive hit man. You don’t need a
crystal ball to know that Ma is going to face off Wu and/or Po.
The cinematography is
stunning throughout, but especially in specific scenes, such as one where
someone is being chased in an alleyway and on a rooftop. The lighting and the
positioning of the characters alone set a mood that is unmistakable. The
action, while goes without saying, I will say (so there): really admirable work
from everyone with, of course, Yen, Hung and Wu as the standouts.
One last thing that’s
got nuthin’ to do with nuthin’: in a crowd scene, there is a young hoodlum
wearing a The Dickies punk tee. That made me smile.
Survive Style 5+
Directed by Gen Sekiguchi
Tohokushinsha Film Corporation
120 minutes, 2005
Riddle me this: when
is an anthology film not an anthology film? In this case is it some kind of
Japanese kaon? No, the answer is actually quite simple for this Japanese
release. When you have five separate stories that eventually mere into a
cohesive and singular ending. Yes, it’s been done before, but this is
surprisingly effective. In the first story, a man (hitman?) has killed his wife
and buried her in the woods, to return solo to his bright-colored and kitsch
cluttered house that would never survive any remodeling show on HGTV (though
the more rooms they show, the more I admire it; it makes Graceland look tame in
comparison). Even his Dodge is decked out. But the main question is will his
wife stay dead?
In an equally kitschy and
colorful bedroom, a woman who makes television commercials has to deal with a
verbally abusive and unjoyful one night stand (nice use of a Monty Python sketch
motif and the William Tell Overture from A Clockwork Orange). Her
weird and wired boss is played by the one and only Sonny Chiba. If you’re
reading this review, I’m assuming you know the name.
Then there are three
not too bright burglars in a colorful kitsch-filled bus (see a theme here?) who
break into a house. For the next story, a hit man (ex-English Footballer Vinny
Jones, who was also in a couple of Guy Richie classics and was the butcher on
the 2008 Midnight Meat Train) and a Japanese associate are on an
airplane harassing the cabin attendant with philosophical questions about the
purpose of life (go with it). In the final premise, a family man buys some
tickets for his kids to see a hypnotist. All things considered, since bird is
the word, you know it’s not going to go well.
The stories are like
little eddies that circle around both in its own tight whirl that touches other
eddies, but as they join, they become whirlpools. This is kind of how this
story progresses. And it works beautifully. There is humor, pathos, and some
really fine action, all of it filmed in bright pastels and garish color
combinations that will both attract your attention and repel at the same time.
That’s also how the stories work. That it revolves around Christmas Eve, which
is also both eye-catching and repulsive, fits it even better. It also has one
of the most joyous and surprising endings that I’ve seen in a while. It is so
well put together that it’s shocking that this was the director’s first feature.
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (aka Boksuneun naui geot)
Directed by Chan-wook Park
CJ Entertainment; Studio Box; MVD Entertainment
121 minutes, 2002
The Vengeance Trilogy is
a defining moment for South Korean director Chan-wook Park. While the audience
was slow to pick up on them, over time they have become classics and nearly
iconic in the Asian noir-violence cinema.
Green-haired Ryu (Shin
Ha-kyun), our sensitive hero of the piece, has dyed green hair, much like most
of the color schemes in his life, be it the machinery in the factory in which
he works, and the natural world around him. I don’t know if it’s a Korean
metaphor as well, but he’s also quite green on the ways of the world due to his
being deaf and dumb. Meanwhile, his beloved sister, (Ji-Eun Lim) is dying of
kidney failure and needs a new one, that Ryu cannot afford. Even his revolutionary
girlfriend (Bae Doona), who speaks sign language, is sympathetic to the
situation.
But things are going
from bad to worse as Ryu loses his job, and while trying to sell his kidney
(not a match to sis) in exchange for his sis and paying all the money he has in
the world, the gangsters disappear with kidney and kash. Now, he has a week to
find the money to pay for the operation. Desperate, he kidnaps his ex-boss’s
daughter (about 8 years old), hoping to use the ransom money for the
transplant. But things don’t go smoothly in these kinds of pictures.
One tragedy follows
another, bad choices and bad hearing are blaring. The film is not as violent to
start, as it is bleak and wearying. I can understand why audiences were slow to
pick up on it, and why it did get picked. Much like Straw Dogs (1971),
most of it is just a constant jab to the side, until the climax, which is
nothing short of explosive.
The “vengeance” part
is in the last half hour, but concerns two wrong parties rather than just one,
with Ryu at the center The reasoning is where the sympathy comes in, but with the
sheer level of actions taken, the question is do the ends justify the means?
I’ll leave that up to you to decide in this case.
Three…Extremes (aka Sam gang 2; 3…Extremes;
Three Extremes)
Directed by Fruit Chan, Takashi Miike, Chan-wook Park
Lions Gate Films; Media Asia Group; MVD Entertainment
125 minutes, 2004
For those into the
Asian Extreme genre, this film (along with 2000’s Audition), stands near
the top, sort of like the original Jason/Michael/Freddy films are for slashers.
This is an anthology film broken up into three stories, each one more intense
than the previous. Like Deaf School’s song, “I Wanna Be Your Boy,” just
when you think it’s reached as intense as it can get, it goes up a notch.
Interestingly, this is a cross-Asian compilation, from Japan, Hong Kong, and
South Korea, respectively.
First up is Takashi
Miike’s “Box,” which clocks in at 40 minutes. Being a master at the slow burn,
Miike starts of deliberately and with mystery. Lots of different kinds of boxes
(or box shapes) fill the parameters of the story, such as small rooms,
elevators, music boxes, and trunks. Novelist Kyoko (Kyoko Hasegawa) has handed
in her latest manuscript, but guilt has been plaguing her for decades about her
twin sister. While dream-like, this piece is particularly horrific for the
claustrophobic viewer. The story itself is filled with imagery of snowy climes
and circus tents, while the narrative is almost hallucinogenic. It’s hard to
know what is real and what is imagined, but either way, it’s creepy and
hypnotic.
At 37 minutes, Fruit
Chan’s “Dumplings” may not be the bloodiest body horror in the collection, but
it is gruesome and arguably the most controversial, and the one that is most
often referenced. Mei (Bai Ling) lives in a slum apartment, but makes very
expensive dumplings that would make Mrs. Lovett proud, using the… well, let’s
just call this the non-”Call the Midwife.” Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung) will do – or
eat – anything to regain her youthful look, even eat something that is
guaranteed to make most of us squeamish. But this is not surprising,
considering what some women (and men) will do with plastic surgery to regain a
temporary (albeit oft-times disfiguring) youthfulness. I give you Cher, Joan Jett,
and Meg Ryan as just a few examples.
Through her own
extraction methods and culled from clinics, Mei has a steady business. Ling won
some awards for her role. I can understand why, as her Loki/trickster character
is charming and chilling at the same time. But even with the shocking level of
the story, the question is how much further one willing is to go for
vanity. If the men aren’t repulsed by some scenes, I guarantee there will be
women screaming (in the same way men would cringe and “oof” at scenes of
being kicked in the balls; I worked in a cinema, and I’ve seen it firsthand).
I found this
particular chapter very Cronenberg-esque. Amazingly, the Right Wing Religious
fanatics have not used this segment as a tool, proclaiming it as a “real”
possibility.
The last story is
“Cut,” directed by Korean action director Chan-wook Park. It is the longest, at
47 minutes. It is the most grueling of the three, and the most vivid, as well.
A film Director, (Byung-hun Lee), the Director’s Wife (Hye-jeong Kang), and a
youngster are kidnapped by a Stranger (Won-hee Im). The Director is tied up in
a way that gives him movement, and his pianist wife is immobilized through a
series of thin wires at, of course, the piano. The Stranger has some odd
demands for the Director.
The basic premise here
is political, dealing with the social strata and the types who rise and those
who do not. There is a lot of philosophizing thrown around, but I guarantee
you’ll be wincing more than once as the Stranger reacts negatively but calmly and
methodically to the Director’s answers. There are some heart wrenching twists
and turns, and being a genre film, things go awry.
Lee is known to the
West audiences through many roles, including his playing the T-1000 in Terminator
Genisys (2015). This was Kang’s first role after Oldboy.
This film is definitely not for the weak of heart or stomach. Even some
of the implications are repulsive, but this is such a beautifully done
trilogy, and well deserves the recognition it has received.
