This past Monday a friend and I sat down for a relaxing bout
of watching-a-movie-on-Netflix and I arbitrarily suggested the movie Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. I suggested
it because I heard in passing that this movie, along with Director Park
Chan-wook’s other films (Oldboy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, and the now
in theaters Stoker), was the kind of
film that breaks your brain with insane disturbingness. Why, you may ask, would
I want to watch such a thing? Because to me, that sounds like a challenge! And
most of the time, the extreme disturbiality is grossly embellished and I walk
away with a shrug and a “meh” and think that I’ve seen worse.
It doesn’t shame me to admit that I lost the challenge. Word
of this movie’s traumatizing effects on the psyche were not grossly embellished
at all. Nay, I would put forth that they weren’t emphasized enough. People that
cherish their positive outlook on life should avoid this movie at all costs.
And those that are in a bad place already will be screwed for sure at even the
most momentary peek of any given frame. Embellishment, this be not!
But on the other hand, this movie is extremely well made and
it manages to accomplish exactly what it sets out to do. It’s a weird thing to
have experienced something that yearns from the get-go to crush your soul to
pieces and then does so expertly. Well done, I say. Cue singular slow clapping
in a big empty theater. You really showed me what for, horrible movie. Bravo.
If you don’t know anything about the plot, there’s really
not much to go into without spoiling it because its just a series of
unfortunate and then grotesque events. A young, deaf guy gets fired from his
crappy factory job. His sister is sick and needs a kidney transplant. He’s not
the right blood type and the donor list is long. One day he happens upon a
sticker on the wall above a urinal that says something like “Organs for Sale ”. After meeting up
with the proprietors of said organ selling business, they tell him that they’ll
get his sister a kidney, but he’ll have to give them one of his and all the
money he has in return. He agrees, then wakes up butt naked in the middle of
nowhere with a missing kidney.
Wouldn’t you know that the donor kidney then becomes
immediately available through legitimate sources, but shucks, he’s plum out of
money and can’t afford it. So his anarchist girlfriend suggests that they
kidnap his ex-employer’s daughter, hold her for ransom and use that money to
pay for the operation. This all sounds well and good in theory, but
unfortunately, things don’t work out so well, and it’s all downhill from there.
Not just downhill, though, I mean down into the deepest depths of mind warping
horror you can imagine.
It’s Friday now and I can’t stop thinking about this film.
I’m pretty sure my friend won’t let me pick a movie to watch for a long, long
time after this. We both felt physically ill when the whole thing was said and
done. However, having said all that, it’s not a technically bad movie. In a way,
it’s quite good. The lack of music and long static shots on uncomfortable
scenes cut right to the core and achieve their intended goal. I could never
recommend anyone watch it, except that I have this urgent need to tell people
about it, in the same way that survivors of horrible tragedies need to talk it
out with others who have had the same experience. So, I’ve decided to use the
tactic of telling everyone I know not to watch this movie. And then remind them
frequently not to watch it, over and over. So if someone I know ends up
watching this movie, it’s their own fault. I told them not to watch it ever. I
told them everyday.
