"Kind Of Gold" is the final song of South Korean director Park Chan-wook's "Revenge Trilogy", the style is very different from the first two, the rhythm, atmosphere and picture have a certain degree of "pleasing to the eye", and although this film is not as "uncomfortable to watch" as the first two, it still portrays the unchanging revenge essence of human nature.
The moral of revenge that may not be calm and reborn is also quite strong, and the symbolic images that can be seen everywhere in the film can be corroborated and contrasted, making these meanings more touching to the heart. Therefore, as a finale, the good looks of "Kind Gold" are beyond doubt.
In terms of "style", "Kind Gold" is the opposite of "I want revenge" and "Old Boy" is full of heavy, dark and very helpless and extremely sad tones, and many plots have dialogue and interaction that makes people laugh, and their atmosphere is quite relaxed and witty.
In particular, the two sections of Jinzi Prison for Skywalker and the final collective action can obviously be seen that director Park Chan-wook uses jokes to portray the cruelty and bloodiness of killing people in an interesting way, so it is obvious that the killing machine is hidden and the revenge is a bridge section, and the result is a sense of gimmicking.
In addition, the tone of "Kind Gold" is also relatively brighter than the first two, the composition is beautiful, and even many of the props and scenes in the shot can be seen everywhere its exquisite and elegant and colorful design texture, coupled with Li Ying'ai's incredibly beautiful face, the whole picture is indeed very pleasing to the eye, and then let the film's revenge and killing atmosphere ease up.
Importantly, the first half of this film, when explaining the causes and consequences and the relationship between many main and secondary characters, moves freely in multiple time sequences, not only clearly connecting the veins of the vertical axis and the horizontal axis, so that the audience can see at a glance, and in addition to the humor and exquisite characteristics of each plot, its meaning is deep and echoing, so it is really eye-catching.
However, even so, like the two previous works in this series, "I Want Revenge" and "Old Boy", "Kind Gold" still portrays the various increasingly distorted human natures such as despair, indignation and cruelty that have lost the important value of life under the exquisite picture of seemingly light humor and artistic beauty.
Personally, I think it is mainly because in the progress of the story, the various plots of the main line are closely linked to the human instinct drive of "the leakage of negative emotions and the compensation of broken souls".
In particular, the "kindness" and "good deeds" parts of Kaneko not only have an approachable heart and fierceness, but also have a hidden motive for revenge, and the relevant plots are also described in great detail.
According to this, no matter how brisk the rhythm, how witty the tone is, and how textured the picture is, after all, the film presents the audience with the theme of the story, and the revenge connotation contained in the plot is very obvious, so the feeling of "hate derived from killing machine" is also quite strong.
Interestingly, the symbolic imagery of "Kind Gold" can be seen everywhere, such as a dream with gold (pictured below), which is the greatest desire in her heart if viewed in Freud's theory of consciousness: the enemy is like a dog to let her fish, and the gold's bright red eyeshadow and dark coat are more bloody and cold executioners.
In addition, the religious imagery in this film is even more numerous, but they do not fall into the framework of the traditional "original sin redemption" and "the duality of good and evil", and can even be said to subvert the purifying function of religion.
For in the case of Redemption of Original Sin, the revenge of gold certainly has an element of redemption, but its connotation is to inflict severe revenge on the enemy who harms itself to repair the wounds of the soul, but it is a world of difference compared with the meaning of the Bible that is justified by faith, or even the need for good deeds and good deeds to wash the blood of congenital sin in order to obtain God's forgiveness and enter the kingdom of heaven. The former represents an element with selfish desires; the latter is the positive action of human beings for the spiritual sublimation of their own lives.
In addition, from the perspective of the binary opposition of good and evil, Jin Zi is not an evil person, and her revenge action is also justified, after all, the Old Testament says for tat, eye for eye, and her various righteous deeds in prison are indeed the fulfillment of justice for the recipient.
However, her starting point is not entirely for the protection of righteous values, but has a considerable intention to buy people's hearts, not to mention that after her release from prison, her attitude has changed, cold and charming, and she feels that all actions are only for personal purposes.
In addition, although it is said that for tat and eye for eye, the New Testament also mentions love your enemies, which means that although the evildoer will be punished, we must not take revenge, because the ultimate judgment is in God (the agent), so we must pray and bless him.
In the concept of modern society, the treatment of the offender "eye for eye" is done by the national law, not by lynching, and the victim should have a "fraternal" mind to forgive, and cooperate with the indoctrination mechanism to make him a "born-again righteous person", otherwise everything is "self-righteous", paranoid, paranoid, and the evil grows, but deepens the original sin born!
However, "Kindness of Gold" can be seen everywhere in the lynching style of "justice recovery", of course, contrary to the principle of justice of the Bible, coupled with her uneven path, although it can still be seen that she is difficult to hide the unfair meaning of others, but after all, the purpose of personal vendetta is in the first position, so it is difficult to say that she is absolutely kind and innocent.
Therefore, gold is equivalent to being in the position of the Virgin, treating people kindly and sending charcoal in the snow, but on the other hand, it is a witch who carries out "evil" plans, which can be said to be a witch in the name of the Virgin, and there is a killing intention in love!
Moreover, in addition to the Bible, the religious imagery of the Loving Gold also has the Buddhist Dharmakaya Sutra, a Buddhist text on how to achieve self-liberation, but ironically, Buddhist liberation is "to let go of attachment, to miss out of our problems, to attain emptiness, and to attain eternal freedom in the mind." But Kaneko's self-liberation is a plan of revenge cultivated by decades of obsession.
On the other hand, the symbols of red and white that often appear in the film represent "Bloody Slaughter" and "Pure and Immaculate" respectively, and with the "Bewhite" that Kaneko finally says to her daughter, it is clear that the "simple" life she has ever lived has been ruined.
Park Chan-wook is always concerned with the tragic cause and effect that human nature cannot get rid of, so even if the goal of revenge is completed. It is also impossible to give peace to the heart, but it cannot be avoided, because without revenge, you are now living in hell, and yet you have lost an important part of your life. This is inherently contradictory and reasonable, but it also clearly illustrates the reality of the "human drive for revenge".
What is important is that the above behaviors that are seriously incompatible with the teachings of the sect just highlight the helplessness of "human nature", so although the purification function of religion is perfect, since human nature is so, the result will naturally choose the path of least resistance (through revenge to soothe the broken heart).
This helpless reality makes me feel that perhaps the so-called supreme moral law of religion will eventually return to the fundamental human nature of lynching tit-for-tat, because this is one of the most primitive drives of our human life, nor is it an instinct that any moral code can completely control, and even have to admit that this may be the highest morality.
Moreover, the collective execution at the end of "Kindness of Gold", which is easily reminiscent of "Murder on the Orient Express", completely returns all the concepts of good and evil, tit-for-tat, and the death of the murderer to the human nature of "vigilante justice".
Personally, I believe that Park Chan-wook's intention in arranging this passage is not only to echo the above-mentioned nature of human nature, but also to imply that "this is a reality that is universally applicable", because this human nature is no longer unique to Jinzi alone, but is shared by all the victims' families.
In addition, because this drama also has the participation and "assistance" of the police officer handling the case that year, it is obvious that there is an imperfect meaning of irony to the national law enforcement system (justice), and then through this aspect, it is supplemented by the explanation that "vigilante justice" has more external objective force majeure factors in addition to human nature!
"Kind of Gold" is worthy of the work of director Park Chan-wook, portraying the crazy twisted pathology as the "normal" of human behavior (although it is also true).
The film shows it in a rather textured and beautiful form, with humorous melodies and timely embellishments of religious imagery, which not only achieves a beautiful picture with deep meaning and blood, but also makes the audience feel the struggle of humanity in redemption!
All in all, the smooth movement of "Kind Gold", the exquisite picture, the elegant soundtrack, the witty dialogue, and the combination of symbolic visual and psychological meanings, seamlessly combine gentle cruelty and loving heart.
The reality of "unchanging retaliatory humanity" makes the audience unforgettable after watching it, although it is not as classic as "Old Boy" in the second part of this series, but as the finale of the whole series, the quality is enough!
If you like the clumsy work in the next, welcome to the thumbs up to give a boost!