Old Boy

Melmoth

Bruxist
Chanwook Park's film slays allcomers as the movie of the year. A Shakesperean take on the Oedipal drama.
I was in tears, I was ripping my clothes, I was in shock for days afterwards. Oh Dae-Sue. Oh Dae-Su! (Choi Min-Sik)
 

rewch

Well-known member
vey nice bit of post-jacobean darkness...very haunting...highly recommended...though noone else here seems to agree...particularly enjoyed the octopus...either real or exceptional bit of digital manipulation
 

Melmoth

Bruxist
rewch said:
vey nice bit of post-jacobean darkness...very haunting...highly recommended...though noone else here seems to agree...particularly enjoyed the octopus...either real or exceptional bit of digital manipulation

Well the octopus scene was certainly about enjoyment (Zizek TM), whether fake or real. ;)
 

puretokyo

Mercury Blues
According to the director in i-D, the octopus was real - but he didn't swallow.

The most amazing scenes to me were the hammer and the fight in the hallway - absolutely ridiculously amazing - Quentin must have wet himself with fanboy joy seeing that.
 

rewch

Well-known member
surprised there hasn't been a 'cruelty to animals'-type furore...hard

totally over the top hammer scene...very much liked the way it was filmed side on as well...& then the lift...
 
O

Omaar

Guest
***spoilers*** [kind of]

I found this film fairly sadistic - a sadism direrected at both the characters and at the audience - but thought it pretty amazing in spite of or because of this. I liked the way it moved towards a cliched kind of psychological explanation and resolution near the end, and then used this to give the final revelations more impact.

What does post-jacobean mean?

Animal cruelty in films is pretty off though - the scenes in Cannibal Holocaust where animals are murdered are pretty awful, although I found they were incredibly effective in confusing the borders between reality and documentary and drama.

I was surpised to see that the scene at the very end was filmed in New Zealand.
 

rewch

Well-known member
Omaar said:
What does post-jacobean mean?

whoops, busted...coined it meself, but was trying to convey a sort of updated version of jacobean tragedy (webster & such), which was very, very concerned with violence...cannibalism, incest & general brutality...
 

LRJP!

(Between Blank & Boring)
Omaar said:
***spoilers*** [kind of]

I found this film fairly sadistic - a sadism direrected at both the characters and at the audience - but thought it pretty amazing in spite of or because of this. I liked the way it moved towards a cliched kind of psychological explanation and resolution near the end, and then used this to give the final revelations more impact.

Seconded. I quite, uhm, liked(?) it but I get weary of films where characters and audience are used like piñatas; about two thirds in I was just thinking ‘what the hell can this guy have done to deserve any of this??’

Not my film of the year for me, but dazzling and grim and fascinating all the same…
 
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