Oldboy

Theatrical Release Date: 2005 03 25 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 842498070048

Studio: Tartan Video

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Graphic Violence, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children]

Summary: South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook directed this violent and offbeat story of punishment and vengeance. Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is a husband and father whose reputation for womanizing is well known. One day, for reasons he doesn't understand, Oh Dae-su finds himself locked up in a prison cell, with no idea of what his crime was or whom his jailers may be. With a small television as his only link to the outside world and a daily ration of fried dumplings as his only sustenance, Oh Dae-su struggles to keep his mind and body intact, but when he learns through a news report that his wife has been killed, he begins a long and difficult project of digging an escape tunnel with a pair of chopsticks. Before he can finish -- and after 15 years behind bars -- Oh Dae-su is released, with as little explanation as when he was locked up, and he's soon given a wad of money and a cellular phone by a bum on the street. Emotionally stunted but physically strong after 15 years in jail, Oh Dae-su struggles to unravel the secret of who is responsible for locking him up, what happened to his wife and daughter, and how to best get revenge against his captors. Oldeuboi was screened in competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and won the coveted Grand Prix. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Thriller

Awards: Best Actor – Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Actress – Blue Dragon Film Awards Best Director – Blue Dragon Film Awards Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival Best Foreign Language Film – Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – Chicago Film Critics Association Best Foreign Language Film – Online Film Critics Association In Competition – Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix – Cannes Film Festival

Features: Feature with optional English dub
Director commentary
Director & cast commentary
Director & cinematographer commentary
Original trailer
Deleted scenes with optional commentary
5 behind the scenes documentaries: Making the Film - The Cast Remembers, Production Design, The Music Score, CGI Documentary, Flashback
Cast & crew interviews
Featurette: "Le Grand Prix at Cannes"

Oldboy

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 11/06/2007

Audio: DD-EX Dolby Digital Surround EX (simulated 6.1), DD2 Dolby Digital Stereo, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 145 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Jason Buchanan

A harrowing, labyrinthine revenge epic that will keep viewers guessing right up to its shocking denouement, director Park Chan-wook's masterful tale of lost time and dark secrets achieves the rare feat of eliciting sympathy from the viewer before dropping in a devastating twist that is as plausible as it is affecting. As we first meet the character of Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik), the drunken husband and father is sitting in a police station awaiting the arrival of his best friend to bail him out. Despite Oh Dae-su's unruly behavior in the scene, the viewer senses an inherently flawed, but ultimately good-natured character, which makes his mysterious disappearance and subsequent imprisonment in the opening moments of the film so effectively disconcerting. It is key to the film's success that the viewer identify with him, and Choi -- appearing as something of a cross between Johnny Depp in Secret Window and a blank faced Takeshi Kitano -- is able to make both his character's mental deterioration and physical transformation compellingly watchable. Though Oh Dae-su does eventually make it back into the outside world, his increasing paranoia and unquenchable thirst for answers and revenge offer a frightening look at the depths to which the human soul can sink given the right (or wrong, as it may be) conditions. His transformation is made especially convincing thanks to the inclusion of several moments of well-placed humor that is as quirky as it is low-key, providing a fleeting glimpse of the formerly carefree family man. Aesthetically, comparisons to the works of such filmmakers as David Fincher and Christopher Nolan are inevitable; though Park and cinematographer Jeong Jeong-hun 's stylish lensing was no doubt influenced by the aforementioned filmmakers, the inventive South Korean duo (with a little help from co-screenwriters Lim Jun-hyeong and Hwang Jo-yun) eventually succeed in distinguishing themselves from their Western counterparts by constantly surprising the viewer with sharp storytelling skills and fresh visuals. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Park Chan-wook  Director 
Park Chan-wook  Screenwriter 
Kim Dong-ju  Producer 
Lee Ji-su  Composer (Music Score) 
Shim Hyeon-jeong  Composer (Music Score) 
Choi Sung-hyeon  Composer (Music Score) 
Hwang Jo-yun  Screenwriter 
Kim Jang-wook  Executive Producer 
Lim Jun-hyeong  Screenwriter 
Choi Min-Sik  Actor 
Gang Hye-jeong  Actor 
Yu Ji-tae  Actor 

Country: South Korea