Boksuneun naui geot (2002)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Jae-sun Lee (writer)
Mu-yeong Lee (writer)

Release Date:

29 March 2002 (South Korea)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Revenge Was Never This Sweet

Plot:

In Seoul, the deaf and dumb worker Ryu is very attached to his sister, who needs a transplantation of kidney...

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Violence | Blood | Kidney Transplant | Child Drowning

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Kang-ho Song	...	Park Dong-jin
Ha-kyun Shin	...	Ryu
Du-na Bae	...	Cha Yeong-mi
Ji-Eun Lim	...	Ryu's Sister
Bo-bae Han	...	Yu-sun
Se-dong Kim	...	Chief of Staff
Dae-yeon Lee	...	Choe
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ju-bong Gi
Gyu-su Jeong
Jae-yeong Jeong	...	Husband of Dong-jin's ex-wife's
Kan-hie Lee	...	Park Dong-jin's ex-wife
Kwang-rok Oh	...	Anarchist
Seung-wan Ryoo	...	Delivery Boy
Seung-beom Ryu	...	Retarded Boy at River

Also Known As:

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (International: English title) (UK) (USA)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong gruesome violence, strong sexuality, language and drug use.

Runtime:

129 min | Japan:117 min | UK:121 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean | Korean Sign Language

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:R21 | Finland:K-18 | New Zealand:R18 | France:-16 | Iceland:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Basel-Stadt) | Italy:T | Argentina:16 | Argentina:18 (DVD rating) | Brazil:14 | Australia:R | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-18 | Norway:15 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:16

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Trivia:

After the enormous success of 'Joint Security Area', Park Chan Wook was given "carte blanche" to make whatever film he wanted in Korea. After searching for another "vengence-minded" script with no success, he finished the script he was working on before making 'Joint Security Area'.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Ryu rides the elevator with the police with Cha Yeong-mi's dead body, the sheet used to cover the body gets "pulled" down instead of coming down on it's own.

Quotes:

Park Dong-jin: I know you're a good guy... but you know why I have to kill you...

Movie Connections:

Featured in Widaehan yusan (2003)

A stunning piece of work. One of the most impressive movies I've seen this decade.

I know absolutely NOTHING about Chan-wook Park, but after watching 'Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance' I would put him straight at the top of my most promising new directors list. This is a stunning piece of work which wipes the floor with contemporary Hollywood's so-called "thrillers". It's a very grim and depressing movie, full of violence, but also includes some great performances, some beautiful sequences, and characters you genuinely empathize with. Sadly very few people are going to see this brilliant movie, and the few who get to hear about it will be told about the more extreme and brutal scenes and will probably think it's just about shock for shocks sake. It's anything but. In many ways it harks back to the days when a dark and serious movie like 'Taxi Driver' could find a mass adult audience, rather than the moronic Bad Boys/Charlie's Angels movie culture we're now faced with. Ha-kyun Shin plays Ryu, an unemployed deaf mute who is desperate to help his sick sister (Ji-Eun Lim) who needs a kidney transplant. When his experiences on the organ black market fail (the movie deals with this and I don't want to spoil it) his politically extreme girlfriend Yu-sun (Bo-bae Han) hatches a kidnap plan. This sets off a tragic chain of events that you just have to see to believe! I was immediately fascinated with the movie and my interest never let up for a minute. The actors are all first rate, and Park's direction is difficult to fault. The movie continually surprises all the way up to its very compelling climax. 'Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance' is one of the most impressive movies I've seen this decade. Make sure you get to see it!