After filming "The Kindly Gold", Park Chan-wook's "Three Steps of Revenge" finally came to an end. Regardless of how high the artistic level of these three films can reach, Park Chan-wook, after all, provides us with several possibilities for revenge. These possibilities at least to some extent get rid of direct vendettas and simple moral judgments. A different kind of meaning in life deserves a glimpse.
"I Want Revenge": Revenge in its original state and the absurdity of life
No matter from the story or the image itself, "I Want Revenge" seems too direct (this comparison is based on the two subsequent works), which shows It even magnifies a kind of original revenge—the act of revenge itself is rendered and exaggerated dramatically and carelessly. The film structure adopts a linear narrative method, the cause and effect of drama contradictions are clearly identifiable, and the relationship between characters is simple. Therefore, the focus of attention created by the whole film is logically placed on the generation and resolution of hatred. Under the characters' crazy revenge behavior, the film presents an extremely violent and bloody style.
If we only feel the pleasure of violence in the movie, this movie will undoubtedly not have much value. Park Chan Wook’s brilliance lies in his creation of a pair of contradictions in "I Want Revenge"-fierce revenge behavior and the absurdity when hatred arises. This is like the butterfly effect and dominoes. In a series of coincidences, the protagonists Inevitably embarked on a bloody road of revenge. The power caused by hatred is like a volcanic eruption, but at the beginning of hatred, what we see are only small things that seem insignificant.
When the avengers embark on a path of no return, what they are looking for is a kind of compensation for a lost life, and the life value produced by this compensation can often only exist at the end of the revenge. This short-lived satisfaction forms a dramatic shock, just like the power of tragedy. In "I Want Revenge", we see how intense human tyranny can be caused by hatred, and Park Chan-wook seems to leave the audience with an unanswerable question: Does the absurd life give birth to revenge, or does it write the absurdity of life?
"Old Boy": Self-abuse Revenge and Fateful Reincarnation
Personally believe that "Old Boy" is the best one in the "Trilogy of Revenge". In this movie, the form and content complement each other. The film structure has changed the linear narrative of "I Want Revenge", using the narrative method of correct narrative and interspersed narrative, using a certain number of flashback shots, revealing the causal relationship of the film, while maintaining the narrative tension of the main line. Photography has a strong expressive power, and the slightly lazy lens makes the film texture obvious.
Different from the layers of advancement in "I Want Revenge", "Old Boy" connects two episodes of revenge from the beginning-the beginning of one revenge planted the seeds for the other. This near-perfect trap in the film finally merged into an Oedipus-style tragedy circle. On the surface, Wu Daxiu's revenge is simple and straightforward, while Li Youzhen's revenge contains more complicated psychological factors. From the perspective of the whole story, Wu Daxiu's revenge is only part of Li Youzhen's revenge plan, so the revenge depicted in "Old Boy" is Li Youzhen's behavior. Behind this behavior is a strong tendency to self-masochism. When seeing Wu Daxiu suffering from incest, Li Youzhen realized the unspeakable secret relationship with his sister, and suffered the self-flagellation of the soul. Li Youzhen's real revenge is actually himself. In the film, Wu Daxiu's behaviors of swallowing octopuses alive and self-harming with a knife also hinted at the self-abuse theme of revenge.
Self-masochistic revenge is ultimately to achieve spiritual liberation. However, this is just a cruel and beautiful wish. The hatred will continue to spread like a virus, and it will never be eliminated until the body or the mind dies. "Old Boy" does not have the significance of persuading the world, but it attempts to explain a truth: once the seeds of hatred take root deeply, revenge may become the full meaning of life, and the Avengers will no longer be able to escape the tragic reincarnation of fate.
"The Kindly Gold": Unreal Revenge and Self-Redemption
On the surface, "The Kindly Gold" and "Old Boy" are very similar. The protagonist has designed a perfect revenge plan over a period of more than ten years. However, if we delve into the story in depth, we will find that Jin’s revenge is more illusory than Li Youzhen. At least the person Li Youzhen wants to avenge is himself-a real person, and the revenge of Jin’s teacher, Mr. Bai, is just a shadow of the soul. The substitute of is a conceptual designation.
Judging from the story itself, Teacher Bai is the direct enemy who brought Jinjin to jail and the indirect sinner who caused Jinjin to lose her support for her daughter. However, in the 13 years of waiting and planning, Jin Jin’s real target for revenge is only A phantom. Kaneko attributed all the sins to Teacher Bai, and subconsciously cherished the blame for the dead boy and the lost daughter. After experiencing inner struggles and choices, Kaneko firmly pointed the finger of revenge at Bai, which was actually a helpless self-deception. After Kaneko used the hands of others to kill Teacher Bai, she realized that the real target of revenge did not exist, and the entire revenge process was only to eliminate the inner shadow and achieve spiritual self-salvation. Thirteen years is not so much a desire for revenge as a desire for redemption. Under the appearance of a golden angel, it turns into a devil in the heart, and this is also doomed to the loss of redemption as the hatred disappears.
"Kindly Gold" embodies Park Chan-wook's greater ambition to explain revenge. Unfortunately, the film's excessive emphasis on form weakened the expression of the theme. Too many flashbacks, collage editing, and overuse of narration not only make the movie messy, but also make the subject matter less prominent. The delicate structure cannot carry the heavy and complicated film connotation. The latter part of the film only appeared condensed and thoughtful after leaving behind the verbose narrative details. At the end of the film, when Kaneko buried her face in the white cake in agony, her daughter gently hugged her behind her back, which made us see a faint light in the great despair about the loss of salvation.
Park Chan-wook transformed revenge of different reasons and forms into images. In many cases, we cannot make a positive value judgment on the right and wrong of revenge, and we have no right to negate the meaning of which revenge. However, in the video, we can clearly feel the life behind these revenges. The pain and desolation.
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