Oldeuboi (2003)

After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-Su is released, only to find that he must find his captor in five days.

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Garon Tsuchiya (story), Nobuaki Minegishi (comic)

Stars:

Min-sik Choi, Ji-Tae Yoo, Hye-jeong Kang

Top Rated Movies #69 | 40 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Min-sik Choi	...	Dae-su Oh
Ji-Tae Yoo	...	Woo-jin Lee
Hye-jeong Kang	...	Mi-do
Dae-han Ji	...	No Joo-hwan
Dal-su Oh	...	Park Cheol-woong
Byeong-ok Kim	...	Mr. Han
Seung-shin Lee	...	Yoo Hyung-ja (as Seung-Shin Lee)
Jin-Seo Yoon	...	Lee Soo-ah
Dae-yeon Lee	...	Beggar
Kwang-rok Oh	...	Suicidal Man
Tae-kyung Oh	...	Young Dae-su
Yeon-Seok Yoo	...	Young Woo-Jin (as Ahn Yeon-Seok)
Il-han Oo	...	Young Joo-hwan
Su-hyeon Kim	...	Chief Secretary
Seung-jin Lee

Storyline

Abducted on a rainy night in 1988, the obnoxious drunk, Oh Dae-Su, much to his surprise, wakes up locked in a windowless and dilapidated hotel room, for an unknown reason. There, his invisible and pitiless captors will feed him, clothe him, and sedate him to avert a desperate suicide--and as his only companion and a window to the world is the TV in his stark cell--the only thing that helps Oh Dae-Su keep going is his daily journal. Then, unexpectedly, after fifteen long years in captivity, the perplexed prisoner is deliberately released, encouraged to track down his tormentor to finally get his retribution. However, who would hate Oh Dae-Su so much he would deny him of a quick and clean death?

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Plot Keywords:

imprisonment | psychological torture | revenge | brother sister relationship | captive | 

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Taglines:

Imprisoned for 15 years... ...5 days to seek revenge

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the quiet scenes of the movie, the shots usually last about 10-15 seconds. In the action scenes, however (aside from the one-take corridor fight), the tempo of the shots change, making it usually 2-6 seconds.

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Goofs

Main character states that lack of sunlight has left him depleted of Vitamins A and E. These are obtained through diet. Sunlight is only responsible for the production of Vitamin D. Thus, the character should only be depleted of Vitamin D.

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Quotes

Dae-su Oh: Can the imaginary training of fifteen years be put to use?
Dae-su Oh: [Dae-su tries to sexually assault Mi-do and gets clobbered] No. It can't.

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Alternate Versions

Chan-wook Park stated on his solo DVD commentary that there is an edited version for television broadcast. It omits some of the more extreme violence and the love scene between Oh Dae Su and Mi-do.

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Connections

References The Count of Monte Cristo (2002)

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Soundtracks

Bring My Love
by Starsailor

User Reviews

Excellent in it's sickness

I looked at program for today and I saw movie "Oldboy". I read plot and I liked it. What I expected is decent thriller from very good South Korean cinematography,something like "Salinui chueok ". But once again I was wrong. "Oldboy" is masterpiece, so unusual from all other movies. I've seen lots of violence on screen and to me this isn't nothing new but I think that people under 18 really shouldn't watch this one. It's because movie is brutal and I don't think that younger ones would fully understand this one.

To say something about plot is quite impossible because I don't know where to begin. If I start talking about the movie I could tell few important things and I know that people often read other comments because they didn't watch that movie. So,I'm going to say only what I read before watching this movie.

On his daughter's birthday, Oh Dae-su gets drunk and soon he's arrested by the police. His best friend No Joo-hwan somehow manages to get him out of jail and when No Joo-hwan is making a phone call Oh Dae-su disappears. Someone kidnap's him and puts him into room during 15 long years.But one day he's released.

That's the plot. Very interesting, you should watch this movie and then judge it. By the rating on IMDb this movie is in top 250 movies. Now I can understand why. This plot that I wrote doesn't reveal the greatness of the people who wrote the script. I bow to them because this movie is so good, with all those twists and it really represents a whole new wave of making a movie, of writing a script and of acting in it. About direction and actors I can say only good things. Director Park Chan-wook won prize Grand Jury at Cannes. That's enough about direction part. About actors. I can say that I'm impressed by one actor:Choi Min-sik. He's amazing in major role and he showed great potential. I hope I will see him again in some good movie.

I cannot say anything more because I could reveal some secret and I don't wanna do that to all new viewers. Only a recommendation. Beautiful, intelligent masterpiece of movie that I highly recommend for everyone with strong stomach and too all of you who want to see one excellent, but sick story. 10/10

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Russia]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

21 November 2003 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

15 ans volés

Filming Locations:

Songgye High School, Chinju, Kyongsangnam-Do, South Korea

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$68,957, 27 March 2005

Gross USA:

$707,481

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,999,673

Company Credits

Production Co:

Egg Films, CJ Entertainment, CJ E&M Film Financing & Investment Entertainment & Comics

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1