Old Boy
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User Rating
Current user rating: 90/100 (60 votes)
Profile
- Movie: Oldboy / Old Boy
- Revised romanization: Oldeuboi
- Hangul: 올드보이
- Director: Park Chan-Wook
- Assistant Director: Lee Gye-Byeok
- Writer: Im Jun-Hyeong
- Producer: Kim Dong-Ju
- Cinematographer: Jeong Jeong-Hun
- Release Date: November 21, 2003
- Runtime: 120 min.
- Genre: Thriller
- Studio: Show East
- Distributor: Show East
- Language: Korean
- Country: South Korea
Plot
Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-Sik) is an ordinary Seoul businessman with a wife and little daughter who, after a drunken night on the town, is locked up in a strange, private “prison” for 15 years. No one will tell him why he is there and whom his jailer is, but he is kept in reasonably comfortable quarters and has a TV to keep him company. While watching TV, he discovers that he has been framed for his wife’s murder and realizes that, during one of the occasions in which he was knocked out with gas, someone has drawn blood from him and left it at the scene of the crime. The imprisonment lasts for fifteen years until Dae-Su finds himself unexpectedly deposited on a grass-covered high-rise rooftop.
Oh Dae-Su is determined to discover who his mysterious enemy is. He gets his first clue when a homeless man hands him a cell phone and a wallet full of cash. Later, while Dae-su is eating in a Japanese restaurant, the phone rings and a voice challenges him to find the reason for his imprisonment.
Dae-Su blacks out only to awaken in the apartment of the restaurant’s pretty, young waitress, Mido (Kang Hye-Jung). Mi-Do helps him search for his hidden prison, but one night, Dae-Su finds Mi-Do exchanging emails with a mysterious stranger who seems to know all about him. Convinced Mi-Do has betrayed him, he continues the search on his own.
Dae-Su locates his former prison and beats up the gangsters who served as his captors. A tape offers clues as to his enemy’s motives, but not his identity. Dae-Su blacks out on the street and after being helped into a cab by his mysterious, but still unnamed foe, he ends up back at Mi-Do’s. An old friend who owns a cyber café helps Dae-Su discover that Mi-Do’s emailer, “Evergreen”, is indeed the man who had him locked up. Dae-Su is enraged by Mi-Do’s apparent betrayal, but a face-to-face confrontation with his smooth-talking adversary ends with Dae-Su’s conviction that she is innocent. The man gives Dae-Su five days to discover who he is and why he imprisoned him. He is told that if he succeeds, the man will kill himself; if he does not, he will kill Mi-Do.
Final clues lead Dae-Su back to his old high school, where he discovers that his enemy is fellow graduate Lee Woo-Jin (Yoo Ji-Tae), whose sister, Soo-Ah (Yoon Jin-Seo), committed suicide years before. Dae-Su confronts Lee in his ultra-modern penthouse apartment, only to discover that his enemy’s tortures are just beginning.
Notes
- "Old Boy" is the second installment in director Park Chan-Wook's "revenge trilogy" - story lines are not related.
- "Old Boy" premiered at the 57th Cannes Film Festival, where the jury, chaired by Quentin Tarantino, awarded Oldboy the Grand Prix.
- For its domestic theatrical run "Oldboy" appeared on 45 screens and took in a total of 3,269,000 admissions. The film became the 4th highest grossing film for all domestic films and the 6th highest grossing for all films screened in South Korea in 2003.
- Related titles
- Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance | Boksuneun naui geot (2002)
- Old Boy | Oldeuboi (2003)
- Sympathy for Lady Vengeance | Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005)
Cast
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| Choi Min-Sik | Yoo Ji-Tae | Kang Hye-Jung | Kim Byung-Ok | Oh Dal-Su |
| Oh Dae-Su | Lee Woo-Jin | Mi-Do | Mr. Han | Park Cheol-Woong |
Additional Cast Members:
- Ji Dae-Han - No Joo-Hwan
- Lee Seung-Shin - Yoo Hyung-Ja
- Yoon Jin-Seo - Lee Soo-Ah
- Lee Dae-Yeon - Beggar
- Oh Gwang-Rok - Suicidal Man
- Lee Seung-Shin - Hyeong-Ja (hypnotist)
- Oh Tae-Kyung - Dae-Su (young)
- Ahn Yeok-Suk - Woo-Jin (young)
- Kim Su-Hyeon
- Lee Mi-Mi - dental nurse
- Park Jae-Woong
- Kim Bong-Gun
- Lee Hong-Pyo - Cheol-Woong's henchman
- Choi Jae-Sup - 2003 guard
Trailers
Image Gallery
Awards
- 2004 (24th) Critics Choice Awards - November
- Best Film
- Best Director
- Best Actor (Choi Min-Sik)
- Best New Actress (Kang Hye-Jeong)
- Best Music
Yogessegoy Says:
Mar 06 2012 9:39 pm
when i saw this First time i really shocked, hated very much after that, i don't know i started liking this movie like hell....This is the best movie i ever saw...
Hugo Says:
Dec 31 2011 7:37 am
Very haunting, disturbing masterpiece... lost my mind for a day thinking about this
Sephiroz Says:
Jul 30 2011 5:44 pm
Best Korean Movie.It's A Perfect Film,And Really Right It's In Imdb 250.
puppy Says:
Dec 16 2010 3:18 am
the best movie i've seen so far