Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) Boksuneun naui geot (original title)

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Mu-yeong Lee
Chan-wook Park
(more)

Release Date:

29 March 2002 (South Korea)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Revenge Was Never This Sweet

Plot:

A recently laid off factory worker kidnaps his former boss' daughter, hoping to use the ransom money to pay for his sister's kidney transplant.

Plot Keywords:

Kidney Transplant | Revenge | Violence | Blood | River

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Kang-ho Song	...	Park Dong-jin
Ha-kyun Shin	...	Ryu
Doona Bae	...	Cha Yeong-mi
Ji-Eun Lim	...	Ryu's Sister
Bo-bae Han	...	Yu-sun
Se-dong Kim	...	Chief of Staff
Dae-yeon Lee	...	Choe
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Ju-bong Gi
Gyu-su Jeong
Jae-yeong Jeong	...	Husband of Dong-jin's ex-wife's
Kan-hie Lee	...	Park Dong-jin's ex-wife
Kwang-rok Oh	...	Anarchist
Seung-wan Ryoo	...	Delivery Boy
Seung-beom Ryu	...	Retarded Boy at River

Directed by
Chan-wook Park

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jae-sun Lee
Jong-yong Lee
Mu-yeong Lee
Chan-wook Park

Produced by
Jae-sun Lee	....	producer
Kang-bok Lee	....	executive producer
Jin-gyu Lim	....	producer
Dong-jun Seok	....	executive producer

Cinematography by
Byeong-il Kim

Film Editing by
Sang-beom Kim

Production Design by
Jung-hwa Choe

Art Direction by
Sang-man Oh

Costume Design by
Seung-heui Shin

Sound Department
Seok-weon Kim	....	sound
Seung-cheol Lee	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Seongho Jang	....	visual effects supervisor: Mofac Studio

Production Companies

• CJ Entertainment
• Studio Box

Distributors

• Bright Angel Distribution (2004) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Cine Qua Non Films (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Tartan (2005) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2006) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• MTV Netherlands (2006) (Netherlands) (TV)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Palisades Pictures (2005) (USA) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (2002) (USA) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• SBP (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Tartan Video USA (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Total Film Home Entertainment (2004) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2004) (Finland) (DVD)
• YLE Teema (2007) (Finland) (TV)

Special Effects

• Mofac Studio (visual effects)

Also Known As:

"Boksuneun naui geot" - South Korea (original title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong gruesome violence, strong sexuality, language and drug use

Runtime:

129 min | Japan:117 min | UK:121 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean | Korean Sign Language

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:R21 | Finland:K-18 | New Zealand:R18 | France:-16 | Iceland:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Basel-Stadt) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Italy:T | Argentina:16 | Argentina:18 (DVD rating) | Brazil:14 | Chile:18 | Denmark:15 | Australia:R | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Japan:R-18 | Norway:15 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Germany:16

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Trivia:

Kang-ho Song shouted for three days to break his voice in order to sound more authentic and tired for the scene where he is screaming for help through the black plastic bag.

Goofs:

Continuity: During the scene where engineer Peng slashes his stomach four times, notice his strokes. He makes a semi-short stroke, then two strokes that are similar in length, and then a very long stroke on the bottom. All of these strokes are relatively straight; although, when you see the close-up of his gashes bleeding, you see that the first stroke is very short and angled down, and the bottom stroke is much shorter than the middle two, even though it should obviously be longer.

Quotes:

Cha Yeong-mi:The bad image kidnappers get is because of kids getting killed. But we're different. Give us the money and we'll return the kid pronto.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lady Vengeance (2005)

Modern masterpiece.

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is, simply put, the best film I have seen all year.

Chan-wook Park's mastery of cinematic language is stunning. I Recently saw Oldboy, and was intrigued by the style and freshness of that film. but where Oldboy sometimes degenerates (albeit in a very entertaining fashion) into simple violence and visceral satisfaction, Mr. Vengeance does not.

Those not accustomed to a slower paced film may say that there is too much postulation and ambiguity in this film, but they would be completely wrong. Never has a film managed to capture my attention so fully as this one. The majority of the time, we are left in quiet reflection of the events hat have taken place. The setting is rich and South Korea is shown in all its glory as a culture emerging from a somewhat torn past.

Every moment is beautifully framed and executed, and there are multiple ways in which the viewer is drawn into the lives of the characters that exist in this space. Colour is obviously very important to park, as each moment is perfectly balanced and flows from frame to frame in a way that would make most Hollywood directors green with envy.

The themes of vengeance and tragic fate are intertwined in such a way that almost numbs the senses after a time. Even though there is no "hero" or "villian" in this film, each character shares the spotlight in turn and the motivations for their actions are slowly revealed, justified, and then torn apart as fate intervenes to bring everything to a point of complete helplessness and futility.

A very powerful, beautiful film.