Baby seems to have completely gotten over yesterday's little fall off the sofa. Her afternoon wasn't so enjoyable though; it seems that her teeth are giving her trouble again. So we gave her a dose of Pamol before popping her off to bed and putting the latest DVD on...
Old Boy is the other DVD I brought home last Friday, along with Kung Fu Hustle. Like the latter, Old Boy has been compared to Kill Bill. However, it seemed to me to be utterly different.
The base storyline was intriguing; a man is kidnapped and imprisoned in a non-descript hotel room for fifteen years, in isolation and not knowing why he's there. From the TV news he discovers that his wife has been murdered and he has been implicated. Then, he's suddenly released and supplied with a wallet full of money and a mobile phone. So he's got two aims: 1) find out who's responsible and ask him why, and 2) kill the bastard. Along the way he falls in love with a mysterious young woman he meets in a sushi restaurant who may or may not be involved in his incarceration.
First of all, if you're not into Tarantino-style violence then avoid it like a plague of Stars Wars prequels.
Secondly, if you've ever seen that Michael Douglas movie The Game, then you'll have an idea of the amount of convoluted manipulation going on in this story.
Thirdly, this movie has no sense of humour - it's all very, very dark and unsavoury.
Fourthly, I wonder why non-Hollywood sex scenes are so much more realistic (and hence, unattractive) than their Hollywood counterparts.
Old Boy was highly watchable, but it had that big yuck factor which I got while watching Anthony Hopkins' Titus (which, incidentally, I thought was a great film).
7 comments:
star firstbaseman: why, thank you - I do try to employ meaningful metaphors ;-)
juliabohemian: there's a bit of blood in this movie too, but the violence is actually more implied than explicit - which is bad enough!
I adore films!
I've seen 'Old Boy'- it's part of the new style of Korean film genre that I call 'the revenge film'. If you liked 'Old Boy', try watching the Japanese film 'Ichi the Killer'- it will change your life (well, not really, but it is good). Just make sure Baby is tucked in bed in the other room ;-)
On second thought, use discretion if you watch the films 'Ichi the Killer', 'Audition', or 'Full Metal Yakuza' by director Miike Takahashi. They are INCREDIBLY brutal, violent to say the least. You've been warned :P
jon: hmmm...I don't know if I'll go for those Takahashi films. Old Boy is probably as violent as I'd want a movie to get. Ever see a Japanese film about a guy who grafts pieces of metal to himself, including a big, pointy metal penis? I forget what it's called but apparently it's an old classic. It's pretty damned violent too, and the only reason I watched it was because it was so wierd.
My friend was in Titus. He was the small boy at the very beginning, the silent observer kind of thing.
Have put Old Boy on my "to watch" list.
xxB
Having seen "Titus" you might like to see Ian McKellan's take on "Richard III" - I spotted it channel surfing LATE one night and ended up being glued to it. Like "V for Vendetta" it's set in fascist England but heaps better. Some of the anime stuff that your boy would like is pretty violent too - we saw one of the "Ghost In the Shell" films at the festival last year and despite the violence we were very impressed, but I got that yuck factor watching "Akira". For black humour get "The Ax" - French film where guy gets made redundant and decides to kill off other fellow contenders for a job he's going for - we laughed lots especially at the ending.
boudica: You have celebrity friends! The beginning of Titus was my favourite scene, y'know with the gladiators marching in the Colosseum.
desiree: Already seen Richard III - really enjoyed it. I so miss the annual film festival...
I just remembered the name of the film I was describing to Jon. It was Tetsuo Bodyhammer.
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