Journal #4 - Oldboy

I chose to watch Oldboy because Isaac and Aaron gave it such great reviews.  I definitely had to devote my full attention to this movie, because if I looked away, I'd miss the subtitles and get lost.  I don't understand Korean in the slightest.  I also wish I had been warned about how graphic the sex scene was, because I was watching this movie in the RSC with tons of other people around.  It was really awkward.  Aside from that, this movie was awesome, and I'm glad I watched it.

This movie had a "1970s action movie" feel to it.  I was actually shocked to read that it was released in 2003.  The film quality is a little yellowish and hazy.  It gets even more so when depicting a flashback.  There was a tendency to have the camera directly facing Oh Dae-Su without him speaking to us through the fourth wall.

Examples:

The camera angle continually shifts from an omniscient point of view...

to an outsider's point of view...

to Oh Dae-Su's point of view...

and sometimes, even impossible angles for a human to view. (from the other side of a computer screen, viewing a tunnel as if the it is a continuous tube through which the viewer can see).

In the flashbacks, the color appears desaturated and gives the scene the quality of an old yellowing photograph.

One moment when I really got the feeling of a 1970s action movie was when Oh Dae-Su and Woo-jin Lee's faces are shown in a split-screen.

This was one of the best action/mystery/romance movies I have ever seen.  If you haven't seen it yet, look it up on Netflix.  It's worth the time.