These two movies are works that demand far more than a cursory look, as both of them deliver some of the attention demanding, visceral violent sequences while at the same time commenting on it, trying to say something new about it, or trying to say something about how we portray it. Let’s begin by looking at where these movies fit in the body of Choi Min-Sik’s acting work, and see how far we get.
Both movies mark the second time a prominent director would work with Min-Sik. LADY VENGEANCE is Park Chan-Wook’s third and final installment of his vengeance trilogy. Everyone widely regards OLDBOY as the one with Choi Min-Sik, however it’s one of the ones with him. The one he is featured in most prominently for sure, but he plays a major role in LADY VENGEANCE as well. I SAW THE DEVIL finds Min-Sik once again working with director Kim Jee-woon, whose film we looked at earlier, THE QUIET FAMILY, featured Choi in a supporting role. The similarities do not end quite there. For both films, the directors essentially had our man portray the ultimate embodiment of irredeemable evil filth. They knew who to go to. Park spoke on this to some extent, explaining that he wanted the antagonist to be this way so that there was no question of him deserving his comeuppance (he clearly does) at the hands of the families whose children he murdered. The question of morality then shifts entirely to those who would kill in the name of revenge -- if their actions are justified by their own merit. I am less clear on Jee-Woon’s intent on depicting unsophisticated pure evil. This may be what has gotten the film a bit less critical acclaim, or at the least a bit more of a raking over the coals among peers whose opinions I respect. I feel, though, it was something of an exercise on the part of Jee-Woon, to make something so extreme in its button-pushing that he was parodying the stuff we go to see, while at the same time delivering that stuff in spades. What I mean, I guess, is that he seems to be trying to have his cake and eat it too. If that is the case, I think he was successful. Whether or not that success makes the film a more praiseworthy critical work remains to be seen.
Other similarities pertaining to Choi Min-Sik: In both films he receives as much pain and suffering as he inflicts. In the case of LADY VENGEANCE, perhaps more even. He is made the proverbial whipping boy by the protagonist of both movies, emphasizing one of Min-Sik’s most brilliant feats: to convincingly portray both aggressive rage and harrowing suffering -- often in the same scene within seconds of one another. So, what do these two portrayals of unmoderated malevolence have in common? Eerily, both involve individuals who work with children. Min-Sik’s child killer in LADY VENGEANCE is an English teacher in prominent neighborhoods. In I SAW THE DEVIL, he portrays a more low profile busdriver.
Beyond that, there are differences that set Min-Sik’s roles in each film apart. While in LADY VENGEANCE, he more agreeably fits the profile of documented serial killers, the sociopath of I SAW THE DEVIL is a bit harder to swallow, an equal opportunity fountain of hate, spewing aggression on children and the elderly alike. He gets sexual gratification from intimidating women, attempting to rape two, while other female victims he seems content to dispatch with quickly and brutally, usually bludgeoning them to death. Males are not outside of his victim pool. They usually meet their ends due to unfortunate encounters with him, and are usually stabbed savagely. While LADY VENGEANCE posits Min-Sik as middle aged, out of shape, and more of a conniving villain, in I SAW THE DEVIL he seems older, more grizzled, yet a physical aggressor. His destructive path is indeed caricature-level superhuman, like when he disposes of a truck full of off duty soldiers.
As an overall feature film, LADY VENGEANCE has an incredible level of quality. It shows director Park’s knack for so many things: creating memorable, humorous exchanges between characters, even in...perhaps especially in dire situations. Here, in his attempt to make a film that stands on its own and provide something of a conclusion to the trilogy, it was perhaps overly ambitious. I the theater on the first run, I was captivate through and through. Later on, some scenes do seem to run a bit long, overly drawn out and melodramatic, especially when it pertains to protagonist Geum-ja’s forcibly abandoned daughter. Still, the fact that there even is that aspect of the film gives it such an impressive mythology of connected characters and intersecting back stories. Park playfully cast some of the South Korean film industry’s best talent to reposition players from earlier works of the trilogy. The detailed sociological discussion that follows the killer’s capture amongst Geum-ja and the family members of his other victims, whom she assembled together does not only comment on the empty victory that is revenge, but shows the mentality of those who were the victims, the difficulty of actually rising above.
I SAW THE DEVIL is, again, a lot less philosophical. What I meant earlier by Jee-Woon having it both ways is that his film pushes too many buttons with too much ease to not be showing off an awareness of the beast he has constructed, and one that has been created many times before --- enough so to force the question ‘why do it again?’. It starts out with a girl on a snowy road, stranded, pregnant, and moments later, the victim of Min-Sik’s brutal character. She also happens to be the wife of a top level government agent. Imagine all the times in the movies we’ve complained of something being too unlikely. This turns rational probability on its head and says ‘screw it, this IS a movie.’ It’s not the only time during the film it happens.
The movie is also an amazing flipping around of the conventions of this sort of film. Starting with the most high stakes killing at the beginning, there is no longer a chase with any stakes in it. And when the serial killer is found by the protagonist (played by Lee Byung-hun who worked with Jee-Woon in A BITTERSWEET LIFE), the suspenseful chase is again over, with the agent very un-heroically technologically tracking him so that he can beat him senseless whenever he acts up again. Like Geum-ja, these characters are preoccupied with how to truly punish a monster for whom death does not seem enough.
Later, when Min-Sik’s killer emerges from near death, covered in filth, laughing, incredulous at We may forget it as Jee-woon messes with our notions of morality, but that larger than life action movie aesthetic is thrown right back at us in this final scene.
The title still interests me. In answer to the question, ‘who is the devil?’ for a while it seemed pretty simple: Min-Sik’s nihilistic murderer. Yet, a bit of doubt has crept back in. Is the devil in the agent, as perceived by Min-Sik? It is the only individual that, at some point, brings out a reaction of fear. And isn’t the agent’s intent to keep the killer in a kind of purgatory -- a perpetual hell, where momentary glimpses of pleasure are suddenly yanked away and replaced by pain? Another idea I have is that the devil is intangible, not in Min-sik necessarily, but in the capacity for evil that Ii Byun-hon’s anti-protagonist finds in the murderer and in himself. His crazed and perfectly rendered act ambiguously laughing and crying suggests the hell that he is in.
I hesitantly venture to suggest Min-Sik’s is a meta-performance. He takes all of the crazed, explosive performances of the past and amps them up a thousand times. Yet, there is no explanation, no experiences or insight to connect him to any kind of reality. The other only other reference point I would point to is De Niro’s crazed killer in Cape Fear. He laughs and enjoys the torment he inflicts on others with a joy that that spreads creepily, infectiously to us in the audience. Wearing a rugged ‘one of the guys’ flannel (like he did in THE QUIET FAMILY), smoking a casually tilted cigarette, and often hamming things up...His performance is cries out killer as rock star.
Min Sik was in other acting roles besides these two between his performance OLDBOY and latest work NAMELESS GANGSTER. They were either not as interesting or,in the case of CRYING FIST will be shown at NYAFF’s side panel on Min-sik. In the meantime, I look forward to his turn in NAMELESS GANGSTER, and seeing which aspects of the man’s previous work come out in this long awaited return.
SCHEDULE of Choi Min-Sik’s films screened at NYAFF 12 (he will be at all of them)
OLDBOY -- Saturday, 6/30 1 PM
NAMELESS GANGSTER - Saturday, 6/30 9:00 PM
FAILAIN - Monday, 7/1 1:00 PM
CRYING FIRST - Monday, 7/1 9:00 PM
Visit the Subway Cinema New York Asian Film Festival website for more details.
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