I’m working my way through Park Chan-Wook’s “Revenge Trilogy” after being wowed by Oldboy a few months ago. Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, the first in the series, tells two connected revenge tales that can only end in tragedy. Ryu (Shin Ha-kyun), a young green-haired deaf man, is desperate to save his dying sister (Lim J-Eun) by finding her a kidney transplant. He tries to buy one off of black market organ dealers, but wakes up with his money gone and a surgical cut into his side (don’t worry, it seems they didn’t take anything too important).
His anarchist friend Cha Yeong-mi (Bae Du-na) suggests kidnapping his old employer’s young daughter and claiming a ransom to pay for an operation, but the plan goes awry and they instead end up with Yu-sun (Han Bo-bae), the daughter of his boss’s friend, Park Dong-jin (Song Kang-ho). When his sister finds out about the kidnapping, she kills herself in disappointment and a devastated Ryu seeks vengeance on the organ dealers who took his money. Meanwhile Park hunts down his daughter’s kidnappers for his own revenge.
While of course packed with interesting visuals, an engaging story, and a bit of the old ultra-violence, Sympathy for Mr Vengeance is too ambiguous in its plot structure to be as enjoyable as it should be. The female characters aren’t identified and I spent a good chunk of the beginning thinking Cha Yeong-mi was Ryu’s sister and wondering who that long-haired woman was in the background. I wasn’t sure exactly how Park was connected to Ryu either, thinking he was his former boss (as opposed to his boss’s friend). The story moves rather abruptly from scene to scene, which seems characteristic of Park Chan-wook’s style (though I’m definitely no expert), and this heightens certain plot ambiguities. I understood the basic story, but found myself with a few quizzical “wait, what?” moments.
Aside from that, this movie is pretty rad. Song “New Favorite Actor” Kang-ho is awesome in the transformative role of Park, who shifts from compliant businessman to grief-stricken father to violent killer with a surprising degree of humanity. I dug Shin Ha-kyun as Ryu as well, and he’s helped convince me that maybe dying my hair green would be ok (it’s the only color I’ve never tried, because what if it looks like a vegetable?). There are some great, bloody action moments but nothing too extreme or exploitative. Because both of the central characters are sympathetic, the story is given more tension and uncertainty, as viewers know both men can’t win.
4/5
Popularity: unranked [?]
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