Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

A recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' friend's daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Myeong-chan Park (comic), Mu-yeong Lee (screenplay)

Stars:

Kang-ho Song, Ha-kyun Shin, Doona Bae

7 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Kang-ho Song	...	Dong-jin Park
Ha-kyun Shin	...	Ryu
Doona Bae	...	Yeong-mi Cha
Ji-Eun Lim	...	Ryu's Sister
Bo-bae Han	...	Yu-sun
Dae-yeon Lee	...	Choi
Ju-bong Gi	...	Driver Paeng
Se-dong Kim	...	Chief of Staff
Yoon-mi Lee	...	Boss of Organ Trafficking Ring
Seung-bum Ryoo	...	Retarded Boy at River (as Seung-beom Ryu)
Dae-han Ji	...	Detective Ji
Jong-su Heo	...	Detective Heo
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Masashi Fujimoto	...	Peng
Gyu-su Jeong
Jae-yeong Jeong	...	Husband of Dong-jin's ex-wife

Storyline

In Seoul, Ryu, a deaf worker has a sister who needs a kidney transplant. He tries to donate his own kidney to his sister, but his blood type is not compatible with hers. When Ryu is fired from Ilshin Electronics, he meets illegal dealers of organs, and the criminals propose that he give them his kidney plus ten millions Won to obtain a kidney suitable for his sister. Ryu accepts the trade, but he does not have money to pay for the surgery. His anarchist revolutionary girlfriend Cha Young-mi convinces him to kidnap Yossun, the daughter of his former employer Park, who owns Ilshin Electronics. However, a tragedy happens, generating revenge and a series of acts of violence.

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Plot Keywords:

revenge | sign language | sex | torture | three act structure | 

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Taglines:

Revenge Was Never This Sweet

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

During the scene when Cha is beating Ryu after finding out about the scam, Ha-kyun Shin accidentally kneed Doona Bae in the mouth. She immediately stopped and cried for a brief moment.

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Goofs

During the scene where engineer Peng slashes his stomach four times, notice his strokes. He makes a semi-short stroke, then two strokes that are similar in length, and then a very long stroke on the bottom. All of these strokes are relatively straight; although, when you see the close-up of his gashes bleeding, you see that the first stroke is very short and angled down, and the bottom stroke is much shorter than the middle two, even though it should obviously be longer.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

The title card of the film is shown in both Korean and English.

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Connections

Referenced in The Suspect (2013)

User Reviews

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!

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean Korean Sign Language

Release Date:

29 March 2002 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance

Filming Locations:

Seoul, South Korea

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,827, 21 August 2005

Gross USA:

$45,289

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,046,061

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Discovery Venture Capital, KTB Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min 121 min (Blu-ray)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1