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 Yu, Hye-jeong Kang

Top Rated Movies #66 | 38 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Min-sik Choi	...	Dae-su Oh
Ji-tae Yu	...	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 avoid committing 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. But 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. Nevertheless, 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 | brother sister relationship | revenge | psychological torture | captive | 

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Taglines:

15 years of imprisonment, five days of vengeance

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence including scenes of torture, sexuality and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Russia]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

21 November 2003 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Oldboy

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$68,957, 25 March 2005, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$707,481

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$14,980,005

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment, Egg Films, Show East

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

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

There seems to be a mistranslation regarding one Chinese character. Dae Su and Mido go to several Blue Dragon restaurants to test-taste the dumplings. The Chinese characters actually translate to Green Dragon.

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Quotes

Dae-su Oh: Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.

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Alternate Versions

Prior to the DVD release, some changes to audio were made. The most prominent is the beginning, where the initial music was being extended to the production logos. Those alternations are likely to be undone in the 10th anniversary remaster, as the director Park Chan-Wook claimed to "have changed nothing from the original film."

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Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: Cinema Today and the Future (2011)

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Soundtracks

Waltz
from "Masquerade"
by Aram Khachaturyan

User Reviews

One of most well-made films I've ever seen

I decided to check this movie out after Ebert's 4 star rave review, and the cult status this movie has received (and was also intrigued by the sexy-looking Ultimate Edition), so I decided to rent it. I was VERY surprised at how different it was than I expected it to be - I expected a ton of violence and not much in the way of writing or acting. The first time I saw it, I wasn't blown away, just kind of like whatever.

When I watched it for the second time, however, I really started to notice how well it's made, in addition to liking it more. Every shot is bursting with background detail, a great amount of attention on the production design (the theme of a certain color in a scene was restrained, yet perfectly balanced). The actors really gave it all, especially the 2 male leads who really blew me away. The music is a varied mix of beautiful classical music and some pretty cool techno. The screenplay is brilliant; the characters are developed very well, extremely complex, and the plot is not only ingenious, but the payoff and twists are 1000x better than any Shamaylan movie.

Simply put, from a technical point of view, it's one of the best movies ever. From a critic's point of view, it is a very well-done movie that goes a little overboard in sex and violence, and is just a little strange.