Agent Earle wrote:Oldboy is one of the most overrated movies of the 21st century. Seriously. It's actually the middle part of the director's so-called "Vengeance Trilogy" and the thing is, both the preceding and the succeeding film, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Lady Vengeance (2005), are much, much better but unfortunately a lot less known. Critics just forget they exist while fussing over Oldboy.
Really? It's one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched it 3 years ago and have re-watched it about 6 times since. I've also seen the entire Vengeance series, and though I certainly liked the other two, they just don't work for me that well. Oldboy just struck me very deeply emotionally, the way the entire mood is set throughout the movie; the strong contrasts between loneliness, extreme violence, love, hate, alienation. WARNING THE TINY TEXT MIGHT BE CONSIDERED SPOILERISH
Love the Oedipus references. Plus, it also has to do a lot with the soundtrack, hell, that oboe playing the 'main theme' sends shivers down my spine every single time..
With me, there's really no telling what movies I love and don't. I especially don't let critics opinions influence that. I have to admit that to a certain degree my opinions are vurnerable to bias; Oldboy was the instigator that caused me to fall in love with Chan-Wook's style. Same goes with for example The Straight Story, which I've viewed as a kid and has deep nostalgic value for me. Against almost everyone's opinion, it's my third favorite Lynch movie, and I prefer it over Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway.
>Re Stoker. Have tried it; same as Agent Sam Stanley, might try again.