Chinjeolhan geumjassi (2005)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Chan-wook Park

Writers:

Seo-Gyeong Jeong (writer)
Chan-wook Park (writer)

Release Date:

29 July 2005 (South Korea)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

All she wanted was a peaceful life...they didn't give it

Plot:

After thirteen and half years in prison for kidnapping and murdering the boy Park Won-mo, Geum-ja Lee is released and tries to fix her life...

Plot Keywords:

Revenge | Bakery | Murder | Teacher | Vengeance

Awards:

9 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Yeong-ae Lee	...	Geum-ja Lee
Min-sik Choi	...	Mr. Baek
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tony Barry	...	StepFather, Australian
Anne Cordiner	...	StepMother, Australian
Su-hee Go	...	Ma-nyeo
Hye-jeong Kang	...	Tv announcer
Bu-seon Kim	...	So-young Woo
Byeong-ok Kim	...	Preacher
Shi-hoo Kim	...	Geun-shik
Yea-young Kwon	...	Jenny
Dae-yeon Lee	...	Prison head
Seung-Shin Lee	...	Yi-jeong Park
Su-gyeong Lim	...	A prison officer
Il-woo Nam	...	Detective Choi
Dal-su Oh	...	Mr. Chang
Kwang-rok Oh	...	Se-hyun's Father
Mi-ran Ra	...	Oh, Su-hee
Seung-wan Ryoo	...	A passerby
Yeong-ju Seo	...	Kim, Yang-hee
Ha-kyun Shin	...	A hired assassin 2
Kang-ho Song	...	A hired assassin 1
Ji-tae Yu	...	A grown-up Won-mo
Jin-seo Yun	...	A prisoner

Also Known As:

Lady Vengeance (UK) (USA)
Kind-Hearted Ms. Geum-Ja (literal English title)
My Lady Vengeance (Hong Kong: English title) (DVD box title)
Shed Tears for Lady Vengeance (Philippines: English title) (DVD title)
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (UK) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violent content - some involving children, and some sexuality.

Runtime:

112 min | Argentina:112 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean | English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:III | Singapore:R21 | Japan:R-15 | Denmark:15 | Germany:16 | UK:18 | Ireland:18 | USA:R | Argentina:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-18 | Australia:MA | Singapore:M18 (edited version) | Italy:VM14 | France:-16 | Brazil:18 (DVD rating) | Mexico:C | South Korea:18

Company:

CJ Capital Investment

Trivia:

Having wanted to make a film on a middle aged woman's revenge, the director originally considered casting Du-shim Ko for the part of Geum-ja. However, he had to abandon his plan for a couple of reasons. He found that Ms. Ko was rather old for the character and was afraid that the movie would look quite similar to John Cassavetes' Gloria (1980).

Quotes:

Geum-ja Lee: Listen carefully. Everyone make mistakes. But if you committed a sin, you have to make an atonement for that sin. Atonement, do you know what that means? Big Atonement for big sins. Small Atonement for small sins.

Movie Connections:

References Wild at Heart (1990)

Soundtrack:

Mareta no'm faces plorar

Unexpected poetry and bleak hilarity

"Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is a surprisingly poetic finale to Park's excellent Revenge Trilogy. The film fuses the relatively low-key style of "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" with the jet-black humor of "Oldboy," while adding welcome moments of poignancy and sentiment. The film is nowhere near as violent as its predecessors, although a good deal of mayhem takes place offscreen.

Yeong-ae Lee is outstanding as the troubled protagonist Geum-ja, the ex-convict who is seeking redemption as much as revenge. Although the supporting actors -- including several from Park's earlier films -- are uniformly fine, Lee's performance is the heart of the film.

"Lady Vengeance" is difficult to describe without revealing major plot points, as the most memorable scenes come at revelatory moments in the story. Suffice it to say that the climax blends tragedy and hilarity with a degree of success that few directors could hope to match.

9/10. Bravo.