Revenge has always been the motif in literature and art. From the classic tragedy "Medea" by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides to the film "Killing Bill" by contemporary director Quentin Tarandino, it is a repetition of the eternal emotions of human beings.
South Korean director Park Chan-wook rose to fame for the "Revenge Trilogy" of I Want Revenge (2002), Old Boy (2003) and Gracious Gold (2005). This is a series of revenge-themed films, and although the content of the three films is not substantially related, they all reflect a critique of society and human nature.
Poster of "I Want Revenge"
Today we will take a look at the first part of the "Revenge Trilogy", "I Want Revenge". Beneath the film's calm and cold exterior lies a restless heart, and although everyone tries to break free, they can't get rid of the fate arrangement in the darkness.
This article will try to analyze three aspects: story structure, audiovisual language, and human themes:
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a two-line intertwined revenge story</h1>
Although the film tells the story according to the linear narrative structure, it is not flat and direct, but adopts a two-line intertwined mode, through wonderful editing, setting up a lot of suspense, so that the audience is always tense.
Director Park Chan-wook once expressed why he loves the theme of revenge in an interview:
"Revenge must have a strong motive, followed by a tight preparation process, followed by a process of revenge that is indomitable, and I find this story of suffering and adventure fascinating."
Park Chan-wook
There are two protagonists in the story, one is Ryu, a deaf-mute young man played by Shin Ha-kyun, and the other is Park Dong-jin, a factory owner played by Song Kang-ho. The fates of the two men are entangled in a "goodwill" kidnapping until the end of their lives.
1. The first narrative thread
In order to save his sister, Ryu was cheated by black-hearted organ dealers to cut his kidneys, plus he was fired from the factory, and in desperation, he discussed with his girlfriend Yang Mei (played by Pei Douna) the "bad idea" of kidnapping Boss Park's daughter.
Things were going well, and it was supposed to be a time when everyone was going to be happy. Ryu's kind sister decided to correct her brother's wrong life path by committing suicide for the sake of her beloved brother.
Stills from "I Want Revenge"
The death of his sister triggered a domino effect, and the daughter of the kidnapped Boss Park unfortunately fell into the water and drowned.
2. The second narrative thread
In order to save his daughter, Boss Park paid a ransom, but finally welcomed his daughter's cold body.
Because he was preoccupied with his career and his wife also left him, his daughter who was dependent on each other was his spiritual sustenance.
When his daughter died in vain, this good boy who acted brightly and honestly completely collapsed, and he resolutely embarked on the road of revenge - to find the real culprit and avenge the woman.
3. Double-line parallel interleaving
After the drowning of Boss Park's daughter, Ryu fell into deep self-blame, and at one point could only rely on crazy batting and sex to relieve the pressure.
When he began to trace back to the origin of the problem, if there were no black-hearted organ traffickers, he would not have been tricked into giving his sister life-saving money, his sister would not have died, and Boss Park's lovely daughter would not have died. So he wanted to take revenge on the organ traffickers.
At the same time, in order to avenge his daughter, Boss Park did not let go of any clues, and finally gradually locked on Ryu's girlfriend YangMei.
While Ryu completed his revenge on the organ trafficker, Boss Park also completed his revenge on Ryu's girlfriend. At this time, two people who should not have become enemies inevitably embarked on the road of mutual hatred and killing. One wants to avenge his daughter, the other wants to avenge his girlfriend.
When Boss Park "brings Ryu to justice", he is inexplicably avenged by a bunch of strangers. He didn't understand to his death what had happened and why he had been given a "death sentence."
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, full of meaning of audiovisual language</h1>
Film is an art form that tells stories in an audiovisual language. Audio-visual language includes things like views, music, and clips.
Through a series of rich audiovisual languages, the film sets off the story atmosphere, explains the social environment and portrays the character of the characters, and expresses the director's good intentions.
1. View
The film is generally displayed from a heads-up perspective, and if it is displayed from a non-heads-up perspective, it generally implies some intention of the director.
Side-shot. Rotate the lens 90° for shooting, which is an impressive close-up shot. Ryu lay helplessly on the cold floor after being taken a kidney by an organ trafficker, and the world he saw became skewed, which became a turning point. A black-and-white upside-down social state begins to activate, and from then on, the film begins to slide step by step into the tragic abyss of fate.
Shoot back. When using the upward perspective, it is often possible to highlight the great image of the character, presenting a contrast of strength and weakness. The laid-off old employee who was fired used a back-up shot when he stopped Boss Park for rescue, and the repeated appearance of well-dressed upper-class characters further highlighted the weakness of the old employees. Similarly, at the end of the film, Boss Park, who shoots a smoking decision from underwater, foreshadows the ultimate fate of Ryu's "man-made knife trick me into fish meat".
In addition, Park Chan-wook likes to bind all the characters that appear in fixed shots, or to implicitly bind the settings in the picture. For example, when Ryu first went to meet the organ trafficker, there is a classic shot of climbing the stairs: Ryu is sandwiched in the middle of the organ trafficker, from the bottom to the top, the characters are from large to small, and the black background of the picture is getting deeper and deeper, indicating that Ryu is walking towards a road of no return.
2. Music
The soundtrack of the film is actually not too outstanding, but it has a brilliant performance at the critical point of the story.
At the end of the film, the background music of the Anarchist Revolutionary League (RAA), to which Yang Mei belongs, comes to take revenge on Boss Park, which is a great contrast with the bloody and violent scene, full of absurd irony.
3. Clip
Through simple and smooth contrasting editing, the film deliberately leaves some information blanks, refines the story rhythm, and grabs the user's attention. For example, boss Park's daughter's doll is an important prop, one shot is a well-intact doll saying that the father loves the daughter, and the next shot is a blood-stained doll saying that the daughter loves the father, this set of clips not only indirectly explains the kidnapping, but also foreshadows the final ending of the story.
In addition, there is a set of phone calls, Boss Park's call with the police detective, and Yang Mei's call with Dr. Black edited together, intertwining these main characters. Yang Mei asks Ryu what to do after finding someone? Then Boss Park replied firmly: Kill him.
The film explains the movement of the two groups of characters and the direction of the fate of the characters in a similar intertextual form, which has a high degree of viewing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, revenge is the only way to salvation? </h1>
"I Want Revenge" is a film cloaked in the theme of revenge, which is full of fierce acts of revenge and the absurdity and strangeness of hatred. When the protagonists embark on the road of no return of revenge, can they find the lost value of life and complete their own life redemption? This may be the core of the film that the director wants to express most.
1. Where is the way out for marginalized people?
When we were young, we always judged people by good or bad, but as we grew older, this binary judgment became more and more inappropriate. Everyone in a complex society is no longer simple, and good and evil cannot completely summarize the whole of a person.
Good is rewarded, and perhaps not all of life. The marginalized people represented by Ryu are undoubtedly kind, but the ending is not happy.
There are many details in the film that show Ryu's kindness: he will lift his pants to the homeless man on the way from work, help the black-hearted organ trafficker to needle, take care of his sister, and treat the kidnapped little girl kindly.
These marginalized people are at the bottom of society, unable to afford expensive living expenses and medical expenses, and are a group of people who have been exploited by society. The capitalist elite can crush them at any time, and the black-hearted social gangs will also take advantage of the fire to rob them.
The weak (laid-off old workers who have worked hard all their lives) can only cut their knives at their bodies and seek the mercy of the magnates, but in the end they cannot escape the tragic end of the whole family going to Huangquan.
People who are slightly stronger, their way out can only choose revenge when they can't stand it, but such a move is also like a shot in the film - moths to put out fire. Knowing that there will be no good results, he can only choose this Huashan road.
2. Good and evil are only in the line
Park Dong-jin's boss, a socially successful person, runs a factory with hundreds of people. He is not a cold-blooded boss, but the environment is depressed, and dismissing employees is also a helpless move for him.
He once tried to rescue the children of the family of the old employee who committed suicide, hoping that he would come back to life, which once became the only hope and sustenance after the death of his daughter. But when the hospital called to inform him that the boy had also died, he was completely desperate.
Faced with Ryu, who was coronaed, he once hesitated whether to give him a hard time? In the end, he chose to carry out a ritual revenge — in the same place, killed in the same way.
He said, "I know you're a kind person, so I want to kill you, you should be able to understand!" After suffering in his heart, this originally kind person still chose to kill.
In the same way, Ryu, a person with a good duty, has no intention of doing evil, but he has also become a representative of "evil".
Good and evil are only in the line. The fragile mind cannot withstand the slightest fluctuation, otherwise the balance of good and evil will tilt. From good to evil, such examples are not uncommon in history.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks</h1>
"I Want Revenge" explores the class antagonisms, the division between rich and poor, and human nature in Korean society with a set of cruel and desperate revenge stories, revealing the desires behind evil.
The film enriches the interpretation perspective of the revenge film, gives the audience a truly reproduced a cruel social picture, and leaves a philosophical question of how to redeem, which is a sincere work worth watching.