Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)
4/10
Park Chan-Wook’s revenge trilogy is an examination of decent people being driven to what the director maintains are instinctual human emotions which culminate in a natural and extreme outburst of violence. The idea behind the trilogy is one well worth exploring giving an excuse for onscreen violence whose extremities only further the directors’ point of view. The idea also gives a reason to show that natural but unfortunate transition using developed characters. The formula is not fool proof however as Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance proves. Complaints that surround the film are quite surprising and while in many ways related to the film’s flaws, they are off the mark and too simplistic. Still, the critics ae on to something with their complaints and while mine differ a bit from theirs, it all leads to the same conclusion which is that this film simply does not work the way Park intends it to.
The major complaints surrounding the film are that it is too ‘cool’, its violence is extreme and sadistically overlong and the directors’ pleasure for these types of scenes supersedes their initially intended purpose. The film is not presented as ‘cool’, the vague blanket term that critics have imposed on the film. It is presented more sparsely than that as the main character’s simple existence does not parallel the accused style. While the violence is extreme, it does not occur as often as critics suggest. Accusations of overlong sequences are valid but it cannot be denied that it has the effect that Park intends and even though it may marinate itself in these scenes, the violence is not sensationalized but merely shown in a raw and unflinching manner. The reaction by some critics is surprising as the type of watered down glorified violence in tamer Hollywood films is just as potentially problematic as what is on display here.
The plot concerns two figures whose paths cross in unfortunate ways leading to their eventual fates. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance introduces us first to Ryu (Shin Ha-kyun), a deaf and dumb factory worker who is saving up money for a kidney transplant that his sister (Lim je-eun) needs. His blood type does not match hers and his efforts to procure one at a hospital for her are a failure. This leads him to the black market who offers Ryu a kidney for his sister in exchange for 10 million won and his own kidney. This leads to his kidney and money being stolen from him. At this point he has also been fired from his job. His radical leftist girlfriend Yeong-mi (Bae Donna) suggests that they kidnap the daughter of another factory owner Dong-jin (Song Kang-Ho). Soon after this, things go horribly wrong as one could imagine and there is a shift in protagonists. While the film starts with Ryu as the focus, halfway through Dong-jin becomes the main figure of sympathy as his need to doll out revenge takes its toll.
The film has wonderfully unique moments interspersed throughout which lends its own sense of humanity, highlighting our own strengths and weaknesses’. Yu-sun (Bo-bae Han) watching television with Ryu, the four young next door neighbors masturbating as they mistake sounds of pain for sounds of pleasure, Ryu and Yeong-mi’s conversation during sex, the juxtaposition of Dong-jil’s two different reactions to witnessing autopsies. These moments add complexity to Park's examination on humanity which is bogged down in simplicity by the end.
The highlights of the film involve anything with kidnapped daughter Yu-sun. The scenes with her are always interesting to watch not just because of the believability to the child’s performance but for the unflinching way with which Park deals with her. He allows her to exist as a child but also treats the events surrounding her with the same bluntness with which he treats the adults. Park’s absolute determination to not shy away from Yu-sun despite her being a child is extremely effective and successful despite claims of the opposite.
The performances are what ground the film into something tangibly emotional. Some of South Korea’s best talents are on display here not least Song Kang-Ho who yet again gives a performance that justifies his iconic placement in recent Korean cinema. Bae Donna gives life to the one dimensional Yeong-mi whose sole existence seems to be to assert her radicalism. While her character is portrayed slightly as a joke, Bae Donna plays her seriously which grounds her as well making her feel more dimensional than she is written. Shin Ha-kyun as Ryu does a lot with his face in a role with no dialogue and the scene with which he makes a tragic discovery is one of the film’s highlights. Park himself though, does not seem up to the challenge of having a deaf and dumb character as his protagonist as hardly anything is done with the character. Shin’s performance makes up for some of that.
Despite the film’s minor successes throughout, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance takes a considerable dive in its second half. The first half had its own problems as well. Park spends the first half of the film setting up his own justification for what is to come in the second half and seems a little too concerned with making the way he intends to make his statements acceptable to others. He does this by establishing and stressing the unfortunate situations that the characters find themselves in as opposed to the characters themselves. While the point is that their characters will be taken over by the basic emotion of revenge, it does not mean that characterization should be sacrificed. So much time is spent on representing the character’s basic humanity and well-meaning that it eventually substitutes any substantial characterization which is then replaced by their desire for revenge. They are too developed to merely be symbolic representations of instinctual violence but are too simplistic to feel developed in any real way.
The main issue with the second half is that it almost ceases to be a film. Ryu and Dong-jil are given nothing interesting to do in between their scenes of violence and the last 40 minutes consists of nothing to develop either the plot or the characters as we wait for the characters to exact more revenge. If the final 40 minutes had been existent for other reasons than violence, maybe the critics’ complaints would have been diffused. My complaint is not with the violence but with the lack of anything of relevance in between it which does make the film feel like it solely exists for these scenes, eliminating much of the film’s strengths in the first half with its abandonment of these moments. Luckily the final scenes carry a punch as Ryu and Dong-jil have their falling out. The last scene in particular manages to be violent, bleak and depressing.
This is a film that has a lot going for it. Park’s directing abilities are clearly on display. The lack of score enhances the film leaving the viewer to interpret each scene without musical cues. The performances elevate everything and yes, the scenes featuring violence do their job well and while uneasy to watch, are effective in the way they mean to be and do feel somewhat justified. Unfortunately the film gets lost in its second half, and using the excuse that the characters are themselves lost giving the final portion its intentional feel is not a good enough excuse. The last half of the film makes the first half feel like constant justification and if the final portion had been filled with relevance between its revenge scenes, this would have been a very different review.
Horrorphile
Cinema Enthusiast
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
Horrorphile
Cinema Enthusiast
Thoughts from a Cinephile
Thoughts from a TV Watcher
Horrorphile
Film & TV on DVD
Though i admit it is the weakest in the trilogy I still found much to embrace about Mr vengeance and particularly liked the abrupt pacing post each act of violence.
P.S. - Thankfully the Fresh Prince remake of Old Boy fell thru Bryn.
Screen Adventure
I love Park's films and I liked this one too, yes it isn't as good as some of his other ones, but there's something fascinating about everything he does and like his film the Thirst, which I did a review for, you sometimes feel that the film is having a different effect on you than what he might have intended.
I tend to forgive him though cause he really is such an amazing and unique artist. his film 'JSA' is possibly the best south Korean film of all time.