Oh Dae-su is drunk in a police station on his daughter’s birthday. Outside, on the phone, he disappears. He wakes up in a room with a bed, a TV and a hatch where fried dumplings arrive. He stays there for fifteen years. On the news he learns his wife was murdered and he is the suspect. Then one day he wakes up on a roof in a suit with a wallet and a phone. Oldboy won the Grand Prix at Cannes, and the corridor fight is the most imitated single shot in action cinema.
What Happens In Five Days
Dae-su eats a live octopus, meets Mi-do, a sushi chef who takes him in, and traces the dumplings to the private prison. The man who paid for it, Lee Woo-jin, calls him and offers a deal: work out why in five days, and Woo-jin will kill himself. The corridor fight with a hammer, three minutes in one take, is Dae-su getting into the prison. The answer to why involves a school, a rumour and the worst thing a man can do to his enemy. The ending with the hypnotist is left open.
Why It Is The Film People Start Korean Cinema With
Choi Min-sik ate four live octopuses in takes and is a Buddhist. The hammer scene was shot seventeen times over three days. Quentin Tarantino led the Cannes jury that awarded it. The 2013 Spike Lee remake is not worth your time. This is the middle film of Park’s Vengeance trilogy and the only one most people have seen.
Watch Oldboy On GoMovies
120 minutes in HD, Korean with subtitles. Press play above. For adult viewers.
