Bound to become a flawed, beautiful classic, Park Chan-wook’s final instalment in his revenge trilogy is a master class in the making…
It’s funny how often the name Tarantino comes up in reviews for Park Chan-wook’s final instalment of his loosely themed revenge trilogy, Lady Vengeance. As if it were truly possible to compare the likes of Oldboy or Sympathy for Mr Vengeance with Kill Bill? What’s more significant - Chan-wook’s redefining look at one of cinema, particularly Asian cinema’s most recurring themes, or Tarantino’s tired old retread?
Lady Vengeance finds Geum-ja Lee (Lee Young-ae, One Fine Spring Day) released after spending 13 years in prison for a crime her accomplice had committed. She has been busy, coldly making allies purely on what they could offer calculating her plans to exact revenge on her release. Nothing ever runs smoothly, particularly vengeance, so when Geum-ja is reunited a daughter she’d presumed was dead; things begin to get more complicated. The life she thought she could never have beckons, but is that enough to distract her from her goal…?
From the deliberate minimalism of Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, to the meticulous noir of Old Boy, Park’s dexterity as director has left each film in the series almost look as if they could have been made by someone else entirely.
Ambitious, undoubtedly self-indulgent, Park freedom as auteur comes at a price - Lady Vengeance feels messier than it’s predecessors, constantly changing in pace and tone, that black humour so distinctive of Korean films, before dropping to the dark final act.
It’s intentional, of course, and perhaps the one real casualty from Park’s own backtrack over his original ‘fade to black & white’ concept for the theatrical release. The film’s colour would have gradually faded, almost unnoticeably, until the film became entirely black and white, mirroring the purity motif used in the story. But though Park loved both the colour and B&W ends of the spectrum, he was unhappy with the muddy, dull middle.
Without that levelling influence, Lady Vengeance was bound to throw up varying, often derogatory, reviews. Park approach is so audacious, cheeky even, as too require you to have seen its precursors to understand what he’s trying to achieve. True, much has been made of the casting and cameos. Leading lady Lee Young-ae appeared in his first major hit Joint Security Area, Both leads from Mr Vengeance, Song Kong-ho (Foul King, Shiri) and Shin Ha-kyun (Save The Green Planet!) - who also co-starred with Lee in .JSA - appear dimly lit as assassins. Yet it’s Choi Min-sik, who made such an impact in Oldboy, who Park can’t resist but give the pivotal role of Mr Baek.
The original English title, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance gives a clue to Park intentions this time around, both referencing and subverting the first film in the series. Where as in Mr Vengeance we felt sympathetic towards all the characters, all caught in rapidly escalating blunders that lead to inevitably fatal conclusions, here Lady Vengeance is so cold and calculating that it’s had to feel any sympathy for her at all. Even when we find out the reasons for her wanting revenge, which comes over halfway through the movie, it’s still hard to associate her innocence with how she has manipulated all around her.
It’s only when we discover the truth about Baek that director Park pulls his final trick - just how evil does someone have to be to deserve no sympathy at all? And trust me, in a wonderful performance by Choi Min-sik, Baek is all that: outwardly charming, but with depths of malevolence that no one could defend. Inevitably, Park raises more questions than he’s willing to answer, but it’s an interesting meditation on the subject, and a fitting conclusion to the series. It also offers his lead character the nearest thing to redemption in the series, if by no means complete.
The film also manages to take a stab at the media frenzy surrounding Geum-ja, and the strange pursuit of the celebrity that dominates 21st century culture. The narrator tells us, with echoes of scenes from Natural Born Killers, how the style of polka dot dress she wears when she is apprehended becomes exceedingly popular.
As beautiful and stylish as you’d expect, the film has a fairy tale quality, causing Park’s film crew to make comparisons to Alice in Wonderland (though Park himself attributed much of his influence to Edward Scissorhands!) Lady Vengeance is not perfect by any means, it’s too decadent for that. But it is a flawed classic, like Hitchcock’s Vertigo, and like
DVD details
Distributor: CJ Entertainment (Korea)
The original limited edition 2-disc Korean DVD is still the ONLY place you can see Park's original version of the film, the much-mooted 'fade-to-B&W', featured on the second disc. Sadly the original soundtrack is only in DTS format - meaning that for those of us who don't have that set up, you won't hear a thing! Despite that, it's still very interesting to watch.
There are a plethora of special features included over the two discs, from audio commentaries and making of docs, to Venice 2005 and promo material, and alternative scenes. As you might expect, however, there are no English subtitles beyond the main feature. This version is now VERY tricky to get hold of, though another Korean issue is bound to be just around the corner.
There is now a two-disc Hong Kong version of the film that draws on many of these bonus features, and promises English subtitles (though I've been unable to substantiate this).
In comparison, the UK Tartan release seems rather lacklustre - simply adding an interview with the director to the feature? Perhaps a special edition is planned for later, whoever puts out a special edition, with the 'B&W version and all the trimmings WITH English subtitles is definitely going to clean up most of the Western DVD market on this one!
UPDATE:Since writing this review, Tartan have released the Vengeance Trilogy box set, which amongst plenty of new extras on all the films includes a chance to see the 'Fading colour' version of the Lady Vengeance.
