True Meaning of Disturbing the Comfortable

Review: Oldboy (2003)

By: Meg Davy

Where do I even start with this review? Well, I suppose first I should start off by saying spoiler warning if you have not watched this movie yet. I can guarantee that this movie is much crazier to watch going in blind and not knowing anything about it… which is how we all watched it at this Reel Dialogue meeting. Oh, how clueless we were! We thought this would be an interesting, gritty, and unique movie for our mystery genre night. And it was exactly that: interesting, gritty, and unique,  but there were some arguments from members saying maybe it was a bit much.

Personally, I find it very conflicting on whether or not I want to like this movie because, although its cinematography was beautiful and the acting was phenomenal, it does beg the question of is the brother/sister and father/daughter thing a little too much? But, I do suppose the whole purpose is to disturb the comfortable which is what makes me believe how great of a disturbing film this is. As expected, there were protests of disgust from members when we first realized the brother and sister thing because it just seemed like the movie went into a direction and territory that was completely unexpected. However, just as we thought it couldn’t get any more disgusting, we saw those angel wings in Mi-do’s suitcase and I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a reaction at any of our meetings as I have at this one.

Now, I really want to hate this movie for producing such a guttural plot but this is exactly why I have this conflict! I have to admit that the set up for the storyline was done in the absolute best way possible because, in the movie’s defense, it sets itself up in such a way to be the maximum amount of disturbing it could be. In the beginning, to us, the progress in the relationship between Mi-do and Dae-su’s relationship seemed pretty off from the start but, aside from that weirdness and toxicness to it, it at least seemed somewhat “normal” in a sense. Then, as soon as that reveal hits at the end where you realize their true relationship, it makes every single interaction that we had to watch (more like endure) absolutely horrifying. This all ties into the general idea of how far one might go to get revenge on another and if it is really worth it. I mean, Lee Woo-jin spent 15 years in this insanely elaborate (and disgusting) revenge that took an immense amount of time, effort, and money just to end his life at the end?!?! And he acts like he wasn’t the one in the wrong for doing nasty things with his own sister!!! Did he really not think that if someone saw him and his sister, they weren’t going to tell everybody else?? It truly is such a wild movie.

And the ending….the ending. There’s no justifying anyone in this movie. I thought Dae-su would get hypnotized to forget what happened so he could move to a different country, never see Mi-do again, and move on with his life, but no. It was just so he wouldn’t feel gross about having a relationship with his own daughter! Jaw dropping! Simply, all I can say is that Mi-do is the true victim here and Clemson Reel Dialogue will always remember the time we watched Oldboy.