We believe the better to understand our future blogs about Park's films is to understand him a little more. So please enjoy this post written by Ben Rinehart regarding the amazing South Korean director...
Park Chan-wook is an enigmatic character of the Korean cinema. His films are known for being genre-films and, in particular, for being very graphic and brutal. Still, there is an ethereal quality to his movies that make many scenes seem strangely comical and outlandish, while at the same time touching upon some innate human tendencies. He is a master at subtly exploiting those tendencies through the lens of the genres which he chooses to use in his movies.
In 2005, Park Chan-wook sat down with Damon Smith for a short interview for the Bright Lights Films Journal. In this interview, Chan-wook discussed some of the themes and film-making styles that he likes to explore (and exploit, more about that later though). In particular, as Lady Revenge had just come out at the time, Smith wanted to hone in on the themes of revenge, genres, and gender.
On the theme of gender, Chan-wook, in his usual Korean humility admits that “I don't really know women that well, so there are limits to how much I can portray.” (I found this to be entirely over-staed, as the main female protagonist in Lady Revenge proves to be an elusive feme fatale who Chan-wook has crafted masterfully.) He goes on to point out the interesting plot twist at the end where the female character chooses, with her prey in her possession, to allow those who were most hurt by him to exact a final vengeance instead of killing him herself.
The two spend quite some time discussing the idea of genres and genre breaking. Park Wook-chan is a master of breaking genres. Unlike most revenge films, these films all have an inherent question to them: is revenge good for the soul. The insurmountable answer remains, no. Park broke several conventions during this movie. Pointing to the Japanese film Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion Park remarks that the first half of Lady Revenge, was spent setting up a typical revenge drama, where the protagonist unjustly is incarcerated, and upon release goes on a single-minded, neurotic quest to exact revenge. In the end however, it is not her, but grieving families who do the dirty work. This breaking of dramas, Chan-wook says, is what he prides himself on. “Genre films are composed of clichés, and I'm wondering how to make use of them, which is what will make the film interesting or not.” In the end, Park Chan-wook is, much like the chaotic and morally decadent nature of many of his films, all about destroying genres. “I'll probably continue to make genre films, but it'll be more about how I make use of them and destroy the genre.”
Finally, we get to the theme of revenge. As this is in the title, this moral dilemma and its consequences takes center stage on the masterfully crafted film, Lady Revenge. Smith remarks that the film's female character is unique in that, “The old adage "There's no vengeance like a woman's" seems apt here.” So true, unlike in Chan-wook's previous revenge films, Sympathy for Mr. Revenge, and Oldboy, this movie showcases an interesting paradigm of female vengeance. Smith makes the observation, very keenly that some of the settings of the story take place in very frigid locales. “And also in terms of the color palette and the themes of ice — the iciness of the revenge impulse paired with white, snow, and the idea of purity. All of these revolve around the ways women have always been characterized as particularly catty and vengeful.”
The original interview can be found here
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