Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

'Sympathy for bad pacing'

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is the directorial debut of Korean director Chan-wook Park and it is also the first of his vengeance trilogy which is followed by Oldboy and Lady Vengeance. Although I haven't seen Lady Vengeance yet, I highly recommend Oldboy to anyone who has a strong stomach. Most critics call it the preffered film of the trilogy. The nice part about the trilogy is that it is a trilogy only by its ties through the theme of vengeanced and each story is a standalone tale. However, unless you want to see a film that will make you sit in pain, I wouldn't advise watching Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.

The story is pretty muddled but it becomes clear after a bit. First we are introduced to Ryu, a poor dumb and deaf brother whose sister is dying and needs a kidney transplant. In an attempt to save her, he decides to offer his kidney to the black market in exchange for one for her. When he wakes up and realizes he's been screwed in the deal, he is forced to consider a new option. Finally he and his communist revolutionary girlfriend decide to kidnap his former boss's daughter and hold her for ransom. As you can imagine, things just keep getting worse. In fact, it's pretty obvious that the writers of this film and the director took a lot of their cues from Shakespeare. And that's all I will say about that.

As for acting, the females are the strongest actors in the film closely followed by Ha-kyun Shin who plays Ryu. Unfortunately Kang-ho Song who plays the other main protagonist across from Ryu seems to have taken acting lessons at the Keanu Reeves school of immovability. Truth be told the acting is okay on the whole but nothing special which makes the film incredibly hard to watch as we are shown shot after shot of uninspired cinematography and ridiculously long edited scenes that seem to have no purpose other than filling time. All of these things combine to create a pace that is excruciatingly slow. Also, it doesn't help to feel sympathy for either protagonist after all of the violent decisions made and the fact that the camera takes a third party omnipotent approach for most of the film (although the scene with Ryu and his girl and the detctives in the elevator all at the same time is riduclously powerful). Now, if you are a fan of over the top killing and deaths and violence...then damn this guy can do it. The writers and the director have obviously tried to think up some of the most terrible ways to die. Being electrocuted through the ears, committing hari-kari, having your achilles tendon cut while in water that's barely standable might just be the worst as it shows the gaping holes in the man's feet while he struggles to maintain balance and not drown. This is simply one of the director's cues I feel since there are similarly gruesome maimings in Oldboy. But even these gruesome scenes and depictions can't make up for the terrible pacing of the film. So can anything save it? Well, this is where the writing really kicks in and saves Chan-wook Park's obvious directorial debut.

While the writing is taking many cues from Shakespeare, it is in how the film uses these elements that th real message of the film comes through. It actually becomes easier to see the real message thanks to third-party approach of the camera work. The two main characters come from two totally different sides of the track. One is poor and heavily disabled in life with no luck. The other is rich but hard working and trying to lead a good life. The communist girl makes the dichotomy of these two more apparent by constantly referencing the idea of communists vs capitalists. The two main characters Ryu and Park then become symbols of a greater conflict between South and North Korea. Its a rivalry that causes many heated problems and Chan-wook goes out of his way to show that nothing good can come from this hatred rivalry. Like the two main characters, poor vs rich, capitalist vs communist, and North vs. South can only end in tragedy as both sides are forced to hate each other for what the other has and who are destined to die in a never ending conflict. I think that how Chan-wook uses the film to convey a societal meaning is an excellent beginning to a trilogy of films that I hear become more personal in approach after this one. It also provides an interesting look into the conflict of North vs. South as told from a prolific native artist. This almost makes up for the slow pacing. Almost.

Conclusion:
Unless you have a giant interest in Korean cinema and the conflicts of the culture in Korea or if you just want to understand the bizarre ant scene in Oldboy, I wouldn't recommend watching Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Yes it has awesome blood scenes that I think more directors should study if they want to create a more realistic and sickening violence in their films. Tarantino looks like a pawn compared to this guy, probably because Tarantino prefers the over the top blood splatter instead of the blood drip which I find infinitely more creepy and life like. The acting is eh and the story can get muddled some. And the pacing cannot be overstated as to how terrible it is. Fun to analyze but painful to watch. Not for the common viewer and its big mistake is the attempt to try to create sympathy in the audience through a detached and fairly Brechtian approach.

3.7 out of 5

Wannabe