Even though it is one of Park's earliest works, this movie is quite mature, with a well-executed premise pushing the narrative forward. The central point here of course is not subtle, given that it is directly mentioned in the title, vengeance. What makes this premise interesting, however, is how far Park takes the idea in the narrative and how the technical aspects of the direction and cinematography tie it all together.
To sum up the most relative aspect of the narrative, is that revenge leads to more revenge, and violence sparks violence. This simple yet powerful idea is laboriously displayed again and again throughout the movie. By the end, despite the real and somber notes of the movie, the cycle of revenge becomes a bit like a tragic comedy. Unlike the classic Hollywood revenge story, this movie really takes the glory out of violence and revenge. It makes it so that the revenge is a tedious thing, a job that you have to do, but don't want to. The character don't enjoy the violence, and don't necessarily even glorify or idealize the morality of their actions by painting their revenge as a just cause. It is simply something they don't want to do but have to do because they can't live with themselves if they don't do it.
There are lots of choices that increase the general feel of ambiguity, redundancy and tediousness of the movie. Firstly, making one of the main characters deaf, makes it so that there are a lot of silent moments where you see the true struggle of trying to understand conversations through slow hand gestures. Furthermore, the pacing of the movie is incredibly slow, despite that a lot of revengeful sequences of violence occur, in-between you have a lot of down time. The characters slowly plan and execute their revenge schemes, you get to see the stalking, the discussions, the waiting, not just the flashy scenes of cathartic release. You also see the main characters go through their daily jobs and tasks, adding to the feeling of slowness. Even the most climatic of revenge shots are dragged on and on, not giving you a sense of relief or excitement. The dark humor that is spread throughout the movie adds to the deglorification of vengeance.
On the technical side, the slow pan and long overview shots add to this general feel of removal and slowness. Static shots of natural landscapes or apartment buildings exasperate this feeling. The soundscape of the movie is generally on the quiet end and is quite noticeably in a surround sound format, to add to this experience of detachment. The lighting is rarely too dark or too bright, but always in this neutral ambiguous state. All these factors combined make this a purposefully boring and tedious watch. It is so unusual in doing this that you are left confused, not sure what is going on at times in the narrative or why they are happening.
I think overall, that this movie is certainly worth a look, simply for its uniqueness and originality in terms of execution. Park continues to surprise me and keep me interested in different ways through all his movies, even when he is pushing the same ideas, his delivery and execution are always very special.
To sum up the most relative aspect of the narrative, is that revenge leads to more revenge, and violence sparks violence. This simple yet powerful idea is laboriously displayed again and again throughout the movie. By the end, despite the real and somber notes of the movie, the cycle of revenge becomes a bit like a tragic comedy. Unlike the classic Hollywood revenge story, this movie really takes the glory out of violence and revenge. It makes it so that the revenge is a tedious thing, a job that you have to do, but don't want to. The character don't enjoy the violence, and don't necessarily even glorify or idealize the morality of their actions by painting their revenge as a just cause. It is simply something they don't want to do but have to do because they can't live with themselves if they don't do it.
There are lots of choices that increase the general feel of ambiguity, redundancy and tediousness of the movie. Firstly, making one of the main characters deaf, makes it so that there are a lot of silent moments where you see the true struggle of trying to understand conversations through slow hand gestures. Furthermore, the pacing of the movie is incredibly slow, despite that a lot of revengeful sequences of violence occur, in-between you have a lot of down time. The characters slowly plan and execute their revenge schemes, you get to see the stalking, the discussions, the waiting, not just the flashy scenes of cathartic release. You also see the main characters go through their daily jobs and tasks, adding to the feeling of slowness. Even the most climatic of revenge shots are dragged on and on, not giving you a sense of relief or excitement. The dark humor that is spread throughout the movie adds to the deglorification of vengeance.
On the technical side, the slow pan and long overview shots add to this general feel of removal and slowness. Static shots of natural landscapes or apartment buildings exasperate this feeling. The soundscape of the movie is generally on the quiet end and is quite noticeably in a surround sound format, to add to this experience of detachment. The lighting is rarely too dark or too bright, but always in this neutral ambiguous state. All these factors combined make this a purposefully boring and tedious watch. It is so unusual in doing this that you are left confused, not sure what is going on at times in the narrative or why they are happening.
I think overall, that this movie is certainly worth a look, simply for its uniqueness and originality in terms of execution. Park continues to surprise me and keep me interested in different ways through all his movies, even when he is pushing the same ideas, his delivery and execution are always very special.