Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

"Sympathy For Lady Vengeance" is a 2005 Korean film for director Park Chan-wook. The film is the third installment in Park's The Vengeance Trilogy, following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003).

Of this trilogy I had only seen Oldboy, I was so moved by it that I refused to watch any of the remaining two films because it was inconceivable that any film would be as good as Oldboy, it was as if my mind could not or refused to handle any more great movies. It was exactly like eating the best piece of steak in the world, it is so well seasoned, very tender, cooked just as you like it and it filled you up to perfection. So going and having a piece of perfect chicken or salmon steak was a nice idea, but the steak made you feel so good that you didnt want to adjust your taste buds to anything else no matter how good it is.

And I have this sad habit with movies, when i watch a really good film, I tend to isolate myself afterwards, cause it gets very hard to get back to the real world and suck in other people/places' energies, I like to hang on to the energy of that movie for as long as I can.

Now back to our perfect piece of steak.. So I had been resisting watching any of the two remaining movies of the trilogy.. till yesterday. A friend of mine started telling me about  it, I resisted, he told me the story, I still resisted. He then popped up his iPhone and showed me the poster (look above), and of course I surrendered on the spot..

So I finally got the film, cancelled all my plans for the day (i can foresee a later need for isolation) and sat down and watched it.

And oh boy.. This was no steak, no chicken and definitely no Salmon.. This was a piece of fine candy, no actually a fine piece of a big, freshly baked and crunchy almond macaron thats all gooey from the inside!

The movie tells the story of Lee Geum-ja, it starts with her release from prison. She had been imprisoned for the murder of a little boy: "Won-mo" 13 years ago. Lee Geum-ja is innocent of the murder, she confessed the false crime by order of Mr. Baek, the real killer who kidnapped and threatened to murder her newborn daughter if she refused. Lee who was nicknamed "Kind-Hearted Geum-Ja." by her cell mates, comes out of prison as a different woman, she wears red eye shadow throughout the whole film to make her look less innocent and more evil, and every time she meets someone from her past they ask her "why have you changed so much?". She has one thing in mind: Kill Bill! sorry Mr Baek! ..

 she goes around scheming and gathering favors from ex cell mates to set out and finish him off. However, things don't go as planned, she tracks down her daughter and finds out she got adopted by an Australian couple, she goes to visit her, the daughter becomes obsessed with her and threatens to kill herself if she doesnt take her back to Seoul with her. Lee takes her back, and drags her around Seoul with her as she hunts down Mr Baek. She finally finds him, and right before she kills him, she finds out that he had many other victims other than Won-mo.

 Lee finds tapes he recorded of each child that he had killed. She also finds out that all of these children's parents didnt know that they died, they simply thought they were kidnapped for ransom. This is where the real magic of the movie begins for me: because Lee (our lady vengeance) then decides to make her vengeance a mass vengeance and brings in each family to take part of his killing with her.

She shows each one of them the tape of their child's murder, and then gives them the choice of either handing Mr Baek over to the authorities or... torturing him, one by one till he dies.

I will leave the plot here in case you are planning to see it..

The thing is with this film, the story is not that original, the actress is not that charismatic ( I wouldnt remember her if I saw her again). But the whole movie is one piece of art, usually the highest reviewed movies are not that entertaining to watch, dont ask me why, you are bored the whole movie, then when its done, you just cant stop thinking about it, thats why they are so successful because it means that their message got through to you, and if you have any knowledge of movie making, you will know that this is the number one dream of any film maker, to deliver a message to you. A little pop quizz to help us here: can you remember any message behind: a- I Know What You Did Last Summer, b- Gigli or c- Step up 3D (or any 3D film for that matter..) ... there you go..!

But with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, I got the message and I was entertained from the first shot till the very last word in the closing credits. 

The directing is genius to have succeeded on all these levels, his casting skills may not be that successful, but who cares, he delivered his message, he entertained his audience visually and vocally. And, what is it about Asian film making? when it comes to artistic direction, you feel like they come from another planet, several shots made me pause the film and rewind it. The soundtrack was baroque-themed, featuring many pieces with harpsichord and baroque guitars, it has nothing to do with the film, the theme or its era, but it worked so well. Somehow throughout the film, you find yourself crying in a scene where she is putting her coat on, all because of the music!

Also, Lee's daughter (Jenny) serves as her conscience throughout the whole film: in the beginning when Lee was released from prison, they presented her with a block of tofu to eat as a symbol of her beginning a clean white life, she reacts by throwing it on the floor. By the end of the film, picture this shot: Lee is standing in front of Jenny, who is dressed in white. Lee has the same piece of Tofu in her hands, its heavily snowing around them, there is a boy dancing under the snow in the background, Broque music is playing in the playground. Jenny then makes her weep and bury her face in a block of tofu and the closing credits comes on screen, still with the Baroque music playing.

End result is, this movie has nothing to do with Oldboy, it is loyal to the theme of the vengeance trilogy, by depicting a vengeance story. Oldboy distrubed you to the core of your very last cell, Lady Vengeance made you reflect on the real significance of revenge, or more accurately, made you ask yourself: is it really worth it? Because like most revenge movies, she didnt get back her daughter and happily walk off into her new life like what Uma did in Kill Bill. She took off her red eye shadow, stood in front of her daughter, wept then buried her face in tofu.

Watch it, and no matter what baggage you still have on your back, this movie will help you dump it off.. actually it will make you believe that there is no baggage there.. that its useless to have walked around all these years with your back arched from all that weight.. No? tab go eat some tofu...its a start :)

(thank you for reading.. no really.. you all make me happy.. much love from my side)