Movie Details
| Title: | Sympathy for Lady Vengeance | |
| Director: | Chan-wook Park | |
| Year: | 2005 | |
| Genre: | Revenge | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 12.10.05 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (4)
- I'm A Cyborg but That's OK
- Joint Security Area
- Oldboy
- Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 12.10.05 | Alamo Downtown | This Screening is part of event: Butt-Numb-A-Thon 7 Sympathy for Lady Vengeance Fake: Shurayukihime (Lady Snowblood) Very operatic, very deliberate, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance completes the loose trilogy of movies that each pretty much floor me. I think, at least on first viewing, Oldboy still tops the list for me but this movie was pretty damn cool as well. It kind of tricked me on my expectations though by starting out very disjointed and complex, filled with flashbacks on multiple characters and really taking a lot to keep tabs on all of these people that we're just meeting for the first time, but becoming simpler and simpler as it goes on. I heard from Blake that they're toying with a cut of the film where the color starts to desaturate at the midpoint of the film until it's complete black and white at the end. This makes complete sense and would be interesting to watch, but may also be a bit too on the nose. As it is though, the movie is pretty enchanting in the way that Chan-Wook Park's previous two were and a worthy addition to the set. That reminds me. I think I'll just be forever unclear about wether it's Chan-Wook Park or Park Chan-Wook. I've heard people say it both ways and his films credit both ways. My personal hunch is that in Korea they credit family name first then first name so I would be Miller Brian over there, but that's just a guess and I really don't know and even if that were true, would it be better to say it how they say it or say it how Americans say it? All I know is that he makes good movies. At the end I still felt a bit confused about the beginning and thought I needed to see it again, which is usually not a bad thing. There's an Alamo event just waiting to happen there though... all three revenge films one after the other would make a whole theater spooge I think. Another break, used mainly to absorb what we just saw. Blake was just a little underwhelmed but I think he'd been looking forward to seeing it for a long time. It suddenly dawned on me that this thing was one movie shy of being halfway over. Was it really 10 PM already? The battery in my watch died a few days ago so without my cell phone and in the confines of a darkened theater, I had absolutely no conception of time whatsoever. It felt like it was just getting going though. The first 10 hours had passed very quickly. Back inside, Harry introduced the next film as one that he's been bugging Tim League to get a print of for years. Luck worked out this year and one became available. He then asked the audience if anyone's ever seen a movie called The Professionals. Hmm... sounds familiar but all that comes to mind is the Luc Besson film The Professional. A few people mightily roared though, and even more people cheered when Harry asked who's seen The Wild BUnch. Well of course everyone here's seen The Wild Bunch, he's just dropping a more familiar name because not enough people have seen The Professionals. So then Harry starts up his intro in typical Harry fashion by saying he will introduce this movie in a very wrong way. Then he said he almost thinks that This movie is better than Wild Bunch because it has a fantastic cast but Wild Bunch has a fantastic cast too so the main reason why this may be different is that Jack Palance plays a mexican. "Wait a minute," I thought, "I've seen Jack Palance play a Mexican." Harry goes on to say how cool Burt Lancaster is in this film and I thought "wait a minute, I've seen a movie where Burt Lancaster is cool and Jack Palance plays a Mexican... What's the name of this movie?" Harry then says that Gina Lolobrigida... excuse me Claudia Cardinale has the second best sweaty titties ever in this film (the first pair going to Caroline Munro in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad), and that this is a great Men on a Mission flick. At this point I am like "hold on! I have seen this movie, what's it called!" at which point it clicks and I get that he's talking about The Professionals and he didn't just bring it up to compare it to the next movie. Ahh I can get mixed up sometimes. So now I'm thinking how and where I saw this movie... how I can possibly have seen a BNAT movie before BNAT! Maybe I'm really more versed in film than I give myself credit!? Oh wait... Harry listed The Professionals as one of his DVD picks. So even though I've already seen this, it was because of Harry that I have. Well, I remember liking the movie, and watching it on a big screen will be sweet, so bring it on! The trailers start. I hear a familiar tune. It's El Desperado AKA The Dirty Outlaws that screened at QT6. I start to sing along because it's such a great song. The movie was a bit slow and off, but damn if that song doesn't get lodged in my head for weekes every time I hear it. Tim's recent aquisition of the trailer does not bode well for my sanity. Next came Once Upon A Time in the West There Was A Man Called Invincible: a trailer that I like because it's funny but hate because the title is so damn long. And then, in perhaps the most random moment of the event, the teaser for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men's Chest played. |
