Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 10/23/08.

After the release of 2003's Oldboy, the film became a huge, international success as director Chan-wook Park had caught the attention of the cinematic elite. While winning the Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, American film director Quentin Tarantino revealed that he wanted Oldboy to win the Palme D'or that year though he and his fellow jurors at the festival ended up giving the award to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. Oldboy was also part of a trilogy focusing on the theme of vengeance as it was preceded by Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance back in 2002. Park went back to his trilogy to conclude as his focus shifts towards a different kind of protagonist than his previous films as he switches genders from male to female. For the third and final part of trilogy, Park tells the story of a woman seeking vengeance for a crime she didn't commit entitled Chinjeolhan geumjassi (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance).

Directed by Chan-wook Park with a script co-written with Seo-Gyeong Jeong, Chinjeolhan geumjassi tells the story of a woman who had been released in prison after serving thirteen-and-a-half years for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy. Hoping to reunite with her daughter and seek a new life, the woman's taste for vengeance is huge as she hopes to find the real culprit behind the crime she didn't commit. Starring Lee Young Ae, Choi Min-sik, and Kwon Yea-young. Chinjeolhan geumjassi is a brilliant, haunting, and complex film from Chan-wook Park.

For thirteen-and-a-half years, Lee Guem-ja (Lee Young Ae) has just been released from prison for serving time for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy. Arriving out of the prison, she meets a Christian group led by a priest (Kim Byeong-ok) who believes she has reformed only to be told to go screw himself. Lee returns to Seoul where she stays with an old friend and fellow convict in Kim Yang-hee (Seo Yeong-ju). Kim recalls that Lee was an angel of sorts at the prison where her beauty and innocence captivated her fellow prisoners as she even thwarted a bully prisoner they called "the Witch" (Su-hee Go). Kim along with another convict helps Lee plan her revenge on the man that she went to prison for named Mr. Baek (Choi Min-sik). Lee's generosity in beating a bullying prisoner, saving other prisoners by giving one of them a kidney, and such has made her fellow prisoner friends to return a favor.

Working at a bakery with a young man named Guen-shik (Kim Shi-hu), Lee has an encounter with Detective Choi (Nam Il-wu). Choi recalls that Lee's false confession was only done because she wanted to protect her newborn baby from the real kidnapper, Mr. Baek. Her baby named Jenny (Kwon Yea-young), is now 13 and lives in Australia with adoptive parents (Tony Barry & Anne Cordiner). Jenny doesn't speak much Korean as Lee tries to connect with her daughter as they return to Seoul where Lee gets contact with a former convict named Park Yi-jeong (Lee Seung-Shin), who is the wife of Mr. Baek. Yet, Mr. Baek receives information of Lee's plans from the priest as he hires thugs to stop.

Instead, the plan backfires when his wife drugs his dinner as Lee confronts the man who took thirteen-and-a-half years of her life. During this confrontation, she learns a horrifying discovery that his murder of the boy wasn't just some one-time incident. With help from Detective Choi, she uncovers something even worse. The discovery forces Lee to realize that justice for herself isn't enough as it involves many other people who help her decide about their own thirst for justice.

What sets this film apart from its predecessors in the Vengeance Trilogy isn't just the fact that it's led by a female protagonist nor the film is about justice over something done wrong. The film is more about a woman who was known for her purity as she changes into an avenging angel with red eye shadow and wearing red high heels. What it's really about is a woman trying to take back the years that she lost as well as avenging the death of a boy she didn't kill yet was part of the crime for getting involved with Mr. Baek. Yet she's ravaged with guilt for making this happen where in one scene, she cuts off one of her fingers as punishment over the death of this boy. The guilt isn't just over the boy's death but the fact that she never got to know her daughter just after she was born.

Lee's guilt over the boy's death and the years loss in not knowing her daughter is what drives Lee's thirst for revenge against Mr. Baek. Yet, what is revealed in the third about Mr. Baek through a simple object is more shocking. Yet, it begins to raise more question about a man's crime as if Park asks a question to his audience. What would you do if you just learned that some man killed your child and what would you do to that person? Park's script raises that question while its aftermath reveals something that is spiritual as well as comforting where Lee begins to wonder her own new chapter in her life.

Park's direction is as potent as it was in his previous film where he takes on more stylistic choices as well as compositions. While his approach to violence is still extreme and not for the faint of heart, he takes on a more cinematic approach to the film. With uses of stylish editing, grainy camera footage, and gorgeous compositions. Park's directing shows him getting more confident in his choices while creating moments of suspense and elements of fantasy for comical and dramatic reasons. Yet, Park's emphasis to tell a story comes first rather than going for style as he raises more question about vengeance and justice while revealing the outcome of what happens. The result is Chan-wook Park reaching out to new maturity in his direction and his work as a storyteller.

Cinematographer Jeong-hun Jeong creates amazing lighting set-ups for the film's nighttime, exterior scenes. Notably the scene where two hired thugs try to jump Lee and Jenny. Other exterior shots like the yellowish, sunny Australia sequence as well as the Korean snow scenes are wonderfully exquisite. The interior sequences, notably in the film's final act, is wonderfully lit to convey a mood and style that plays true with the film in its current tone. Editors Jae-beom Kim and Sang-Beom Kim do great work with the use of jump-cuts, split screens, smooth transitions, and other styles of edits to create a film that keeps on bringing surprises with its cuts. The pacing is a bit slow yet works to convey the build-up of what's to come as it works in order to tell the story.

Production designer Hwa-seong Jo along with set decorator In-ho Oh and art directors Hyeon-Seok Choi and Ji-hyeong Han do great work in the look of the apartment that Lee stays along with her bakery and the place where she imprisons Mr. Baek. Costume designer Sang-gyeong Jo does amazing work in the look of Lee's clothing from her light-colored prison garb that she wears to the black coats and red heels that she wears on her quest for vengeance. Sound designers Chang-seop Kim, Seok-weon Kim, and Seung-cheol Lee do great work in the film's sound with the use of gunshots, objects, and other things to help convey the surrounding atmosphere Lee is in. Visual effects supervisor Jeon-hyeong Lee does excellent work in the film's visual work including some fantasy sequences involving the snow and such. Music composers Seung-hyun Choi, Yeong-wook Jo, and Seok-joo Na do great work with the film's score filled with sweeping and somber orchestral arrangements to convey the moods of Lee and her quest.

The film's cast is truly superb with small appearances from actors from the previous parts of Park's Vengeance trilogy like Hye-jeong Kang of Oldboy as a TV announcer and as the role of Baek's hired thugs, Kang-ho Song and Ha-kyun Shin from Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Other small roles like Su-hee Go as the Witch, Seo Yeong-ju and Kim Bu-seon as two of Lee's former prison mates are great while Lee Seung-Shin is also great as a fellow prisoner who turns out to be Baek's wife. Tony Barry and Anne Cordiner are fine as Jenny's adoptive parents who turn out to be good people while Kim Byeong-ok is devilishly good as the eccentric priest who spies on Lee. Kim Shi-hu is very good as Lee's co-worker at the bakery whom she has a brief affair with while Nam Il-wu is brilliant as Detective Choi who decides to help out Lee in her investigation over the crime she didn't commit.

Kwon Yea-young is wonderful as Jenny, the young girl who just realized that she has a mother while wondering why Lee was never there for her. Kwon's sense of innocence is matched with Lee Young Ae's subtle performance as it adds a touch of hope to the film. Choi Min-sik of Oldboy is brilliant as the evil Mr. Baek, a man who doesn't have the look of a criminal but his actions make him more intriguing. Min-sik's performance is great for his subtlety where he seems to act and look normal until he's captured where he seems on the brink of losing it. The film's best performance is easily Lee Young Ae as Lee Guem-ja. Young Ae's performance is wonderfully harrowing with dabbles of humor as it's mostly dramatic. Yet, it's filled with regret and tension as Young Ae sells the despair of her character with such grace and beauty as it's truly a one of a kind performance.

While not as good as Oldboy, Chinjeolhan geumjassi is still a brilliant film from Chan-wook Park thanks to Lee Young Ae's amazing performance. While it's more accessible than Oldboy in some respects along with some strong themes, this film proves that Chan-wook Park is one of South Korea's great up-and-coming directors to break out internationally. While the violence may not be for everyone, it's definitely a film that anyone can relate to in what Park sets up. Overall as a trilogy, it's one of the most fascinating film trilogies ever created. In the end, Chinjeolhan geumjassi is a powerful film and a fitting end to the Vengeance trilogy from Chan-wook Park.

Chan-wook Park Films: (The Moon Is... The Sun's Dream) - (Trio) - Judgement (1999 short film) - JSA: Joint Security Area - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - (If You Were Me-Never Ending Peace and Love) - Oldboy - Three... Extremes-Cut - I'm a Cyborg but That's OK - Thirst - (Night Fishing) - Stoker - The Handmaiden - (The Little Drummer Girl (2018 TV series)) - Decision to Leave

© thevoid99 2011

JSA: Joint-Security Area

Originally Written and Posted at Epinions.com on 8/22/09.

Before getting the attention of the film world with his Vengeance Trilogy, particularly 2003's Oldboy, Chan-wook Park was just a South Korean director trying to break through in the Korean film scene. With two films to his credit by 2000, Park was also a film critic until he decided to make a film that would give him his first taste of success in and out of Korea. The film revolves around the border between North and South Korea in a political-drama of sorts about an illegal shooting in the border entitled JSA: Joint Security Area.

Directed by Chan-wook Park with a screenplay written by Park, Seong-san Jeong, Hyeon-seok Kim, and Mu-yeong Lee based on the novel DMZ by Sang-yeon Park. JSA: Joint Security Area tells the story of two North Korean soldiers killed on the border supposedly by a South Korean officer. Investigating the shooting are a team of Swedish/Swiss officers as they interrogate camps from both countries as another party could be involved in part of a cover-up. Starring Lee Young-Ae, Lee Byung-Hun, Song Kang-ho, Kim Tae Woo, Shin Ha-kyun, and Herbert Ulrich. JSA: Joint Security Area is a provocative, smart, haunting film from Chan-wook Park.

Arriving into Seoul, South Korea for an investigation on the death of two North Korean soldiers on the border is a Swedish officer (Herbert Ulrich) and a Swiss-Korean officer named Major Sophie E. Jang (Lee Young-Ae). Under the instructions of a Swiss-based German U.N. official (Christoph Hofrichter), Jang must make sure she stays neutral in the investigation where a South Korean officer named Sgt. Lee Soo-hyeok (Lee Byung-Hun) is charged for the deaths of the two North Koreans. What is known was that during some work at the border, Lee was kidnapped by three North Korean officers in which he killed two of them with one wounded as a near-battle ensued. With Lee currently in a state of shock, Jang and her Swedish partner go to North Korea to investigate the bodies of the dead soldiers while trying to interrogate the wounded soldier Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho) who revealed a different story of what had happened.

Jang, having never been to Korea in her life, talks to Lee's girlfriend who is revealed to be the sister of one of Lee's friends in Pvt. Nam Sung-shik (Kim Tae Woo). When Lee is starting to talk but revealing very little and Nam's gun was found with bloodstains. Nam attempts suicide where a story revealed Lee's first encounters with Oh and a North Korean officer in Private Jeong Woo-jin (Shin Ha-kyun) during an exercise by the South Koreans where Lee was stuck on a land mine. Lee became friends with Oh and Jeong where he also invited Nam, who was reluctant to meet with the North Koreans as the two parties believed these meetings would involve a possible reunification between the two countries. Yet with the conflict between North and South rising, Lee and Nam decide to make one last visit to the North Korean border station to celebrate Jeong's birthday where an officer makes an appearance that would change everything.

With Nam now in a coma and Lee awoken from his state of shock, Jang realizes that there's something more in what is going on. What she later finds out following a disastrous meeting between North and South Korean officials including Oh and Lee that she is now set to leave because things are becoming two close. With her superior revealing some harsh stories about the North-South Korean conflict during the Korean War that included a war in a concentration camp for North Korean POWs. The end of that conflict had prisoners choose side where 76 of them decided not to choose sides. The superior reveals that reunification will cause trouble as she has no choice but to leave. Yet, she decides to continue the investigation where she learned the truth and its implications for the survivors involved over what had happened.

The film is a traditional whodunit kind of film of sorts with elements of political drama. Yet, it's really about the conflict between the two Korean factions and why the possibilities of a reunification might seem impossible due to political ideals. At the center of the story is this Swiss-Korean woman who had never been to Korea in her entire life where not only she would learn about this conflict but also herself in relation to her own background. A background that could help or hurt her involvement in the investigation. What she would also discover is how these four men would come together at night in the North Korean border station and just have fun while talking about the idea of reunification. Then comes an incident that would change everything with different stories.

The screenplay Park and his team of writers creates is definitely full of intrigue and the fallacies of the political climates that North and South Korean each are involved in. At the same time, there's a lot of character and political motivation that goes on during the investigation and its objective. Particularly since South Korean is influenced by the idea of American capitalism that also has the involvement of the American military around this fragile border area. It is clear that the four men involved this exchange between the two factions that there is a clear disdain towards American involvement. The political intrigue and dramatic elements into the investigation makes the story to be quite mesmerizing though it starts out clunky at first during the first act due to Park's direction.

Park's direction is truly haunting from his eerie visuals that would set the stage for later films to follow. Yet, it starts out a bit slow while the acting in English isn't that great either since you have actors from different nationalities seemingly uncomfortable in speaking English. Yet, when the investigation goes on what starts to unravel scene by scene, it becomes a far more provocative film. There's an entrancing quality to the camera angles and intimate scenery that Park presents at the border station while allowing bits of humor and such to happen. Park's approach to action and how he creates the idea of what had happened reveal in its different stories to add an aura of mystery to the film. Despite a slow, clunky beginning, Park's work in the film is truly fascinating as he engages the audience with provocative ideas and haunting images.

Cinematographer Sung-Bok Kim does excellent work with the film's eerie photography with the dark, blueish color of the nighttime scenes at the border area in the forests and bridges. Kim also has some more colorful, grainy looks for some of the scenes of a nearby town and bright colors for the daytime scenes at the buildings near the border as Kim's work is solid overall. Editor Sang-Beom Kim does fantastic work with the editing in creating a leisurely-paced feel to the film while playing with the film's structure in moving back and forth to what is going on in the investigation and what happened where the second act is all about what happened leading to the events. Art director James David Goldmark along with cinematographer Sung-Bok Kim, as an art director, do brilliant work in the re-creation of the station borders and bridge along with the buildings of the Joint Security Area to reveal the dark political feel of the film.

Costume designer Sang-hoon Park does excellent work in the creation of the uniforms that the characters wear from the distinguished suits of the North Korean and other international personnel to the more infantry uniform look of the South Korean soldiers. The sound work by Seok-weon Kim and Wong-Yong Kim is very good in the tense atmosphere of possible conflict along with scenes of gunshots and things that go on for dramatic elements of the film. The music by Jun-Seok Bang and Yeong-wook Jo is very good in its elements of suspense and chills with eerie orchestral arrangements and soothing, dramatic pieces for some of the film's calmer moments.

The cast is excellent with small roles from Herbert Ulrich as the Swedish officer accompanying Jang and Christoph Hofrichter as their superior who is more interested in making sure things stay the same without any kind of disruption. Kim Tae Woo is excellent as the South Korean Pvt. Nam who at first is reluctant to take part of the exchange only to become a pawn in the investigation consumed with guilt. Shin Ha-kyun is really good as Pvt. Jeong who is fascinated by American products as well as a girl both factions seem to be fascinated by. Song Kang-ho is great as Sgt. Oh, a North Korean officer who whistles when he exhales cigarette smoke who is loyal to his country but also frustrated as he befriends Sgt. Lee. Lee Byung-Hun is really good as Sgt. Lee, a South Korean who is saved by Sgt. Oh from a landmine as he shares with about his own ideas of a reunification between the two Korean factions. Finally, there's Lee Young-Ae as Major Jang. While her performance in English is at times, awkward and uncomfortable, she's in her element in maintaining a calm, observant performance where she uncovers what happens while dealing with what has happened.

The film drew massive acclaim in South Korea as it was later seen in 2007 by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il by South Korean leader Roh Moo-Hyun. The film would be Chan-wook Park's first international success winning several awards while being presented at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival and awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Seattle International Film Festival. The film would mark as a breakthrough for Park's career as his next three films would give him massive international attention.

JSA: Joint Security Area is a brilliant, provocative film from Chan-wook Park and company. Fans of Park's films, particularly the Vengeance trilogy, will see this film as a great example of Park's early work while being a nice introduction of sorts to the famed South Korean directors. Fans of political thrillers and dramas will see this as a refreshing film about murder and intrigue while getting insight into the fragile relationship between North and South Korea. In the end, JSA: Joint Security Area is fascinating, entrancing film from Chan-wook Park.

Chan-wook Park Films: (The Moon Is... the Sun's Dream) - (Trio) - Judgement (1999 short film) - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - (If You Were Me-Never Ending Peace and Love) - Oldboy - Three... Extremes-Cut - Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - I'm a Cyborg but That's OK - Thirst - (Night Fishing) - Stoker - The Handmaiden - (The Little Drummer Girl (2018 TV series) - Decision to Leave

© thevoid99 2011