Park Chan-wook is one of the leading voices of the Korean New Wave of Cinema, a movement that began in 1997 and gave rise to a variety of daring and creative masterpieces. Park is best known for directing a series of three films known as The Vengeance Trilogy. The trio of films are narratively unconnected; however, as the name suggests, the three films are linked by the common theme of violent revenge.
My personal favorites of the trilogy are the second and third installments, Oldboy (2003) and Lady Vengeance (2005), respectively. Oldboy, one of the most influential Asian films of the 2000s, focuses on male protagonist Oh Dae-su’s quest to find out why his unknown captor imprisoned him for 15 years. Similarly, Lady Vengeance follows Lee Geum-ja, a woman who is blackmailed into serving 13 years in prison for a murder she did not commit. Upon her release from prison, Geum-ja embarks on a journey for revenge against the true murderer. The two films are visually and psychologically dreadful, yet Park skillfully explores beautiful complexities about human nature by showcasing violence on the mind and body. One of the ways in which Park achieves these layered films is by his distinct usage of color palette, in particular the color red.
Oldboy features frequent pops of red that contrast the general dark and muted color palette of the film. These moments of red often appear in the form of blood, highlighting the physical violence within the film. At the start of Oldboy, this violence is self-inflicted: while imprisoned in the bleak hotel room, Dae-su repeatedly shatters glass and tries to kill himself (he is revived by his captor every time against his will). A shot of Dae-su being dragged out of the hotel, bloodied and unconscious, is shown multiple times. A large trail of blood is left behind on each occasion, and the red-stained carpet is visible in following scenes. Dae-su’s violence against himself reveals his desire to escape the dark and cyclical life he is imprisoned in, while his inability to “succeed” in his attempts furthers the film’s concept of inescapable fate – the lingering dark red blood stains serving as a reminder of this hopeless condition. This is violence on the mind, too.
As the film continues, this violence is projected outwards when Dae-su’s desire for revenge ensues. For instance, in the scene where Dae-su finds and captures one of his captor’s accomplices, Dae-su is graphically seen ripping out the man’s teeth and causing profuse bleeding. The mutilation of another human’s body and the consequent explosions of red – a common occurrence in the movie – reveal mankind’s capacity for depravity.
In Lady Vengeance, a similar usage of the color red can be observed. Like Oldboy, Lady Vengeance features the protagonist causing self-harm in the beginning of the film. Sporting red eyeshadow and overwhelmed with guilt, Geum-ja visits the parents of the boy she falsely confessed to murdering. In an attempt to earn their forgiveness, she threatens to cut off all her fingers. Before she is stopped by the terrified parents, she manages to chop off her little finger. In the visually brutal scene, blood is spewed out all over a coffee table and the floor. Park’s signature overhead shot reveals the red pools of blood surrounding the three crazed characters, highlighting the internal and external violence of the scene.
One of the most notable scenes in Lady Vengeance occurs towards the end of the film, after Geum-ja captures the real murderer and finds out that he has killed other children. Geum-ja gathers all the parents of the murdered children and they decide to seek revenge and take turns torturing the murderer, rather than simply turning him into the police. The scenes of violence that follow this decision are incredibly eerie and graphic, with blood being a pervasive element in most shots. The scenes are purposefully outrageous, as Park explores the concept of ordinary people being able to commit such heinous acts. While the parents display their capacity for savagery in the name of revenge, the sequence prompts us to consider the complex themes of justice and equality. Furthermore, we wonder about the inherent darkness that Park suggests humanity possesses.
After repeatedly emphasizing the extreme violence on characters’ bodies and minds resulting from revenge seeking, Park ultimately conveys that the violence culminates into nothing substantially beneficial. In Oldboy, the end reveals that the revenge was two-way, as Dae-su finds out that his captor only freed him to seek revenge and manipulate Dae-su into unknowingly falling in love with his own daughter. The last scene is Dae-su and his daughter/lover, dressed in all red, embracing in a field of white snow. Here, the red serves as an aggressive reminder of the moral dilemma that Dae-su is left with. In Lady Vengeance, the end depicts the drive for revenge spreading from one woman to many individuals. Though the final act of revenge is successfully carried out and celebrated by the characters at the end of the film, Geum-ja’s guilt still remains as she must live with the repercussions of her actions. Interestingly, there is an absence of red in the final shot of Lady Vengeance, hinting at the film’s departure from violence and revenge. Instead, a feeling of emptiness permeates the scene as an incredibly pained Geum-ja stands in a narrow alley of white snow, with her face pathetically stuffed in a white cake. Thus, Park seems to end on a similar sentiment at the conclusion of both Oldboy and Lady Vengeance: revenge is unsatisfying.
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