Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
In the Korean film SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE, Geum-ja is released from prison after serving 13 years for kidnapping and murdering a young boy. The kind-hearted Geum-ja executes her long-planned vengeance on the man actually responsible for the child’s death and her own conviction for the crime with the help of her inmates.
I won’t get too much into the story because I believe it is better for viewers if you don’t sponge much information before viewing the film. I will say this is the gentlest vengeance of Park Chan-wook’s VENGEANCE trilogy. Unlike the other two (SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY), the main character’s revenge is not from passionate hatred but from a calm storm. Geum-ja is focused and her dedicated revenge is carefully conducted. This is no mad rampage of pure vengeance. It wouldn’t guide her to analyze what is important and what is insignificant, because she has done it already in prison. It isn’t her physicality that gets the job done. She is known as “kind-hearted Geum-ja,” but she is cold-hearted. She doesn’t rationalize her action or have any sympathy for those who mess with her. She conducts her revenge simply for her longing for redemption. And that gets the job done.
Once again, Park Chan-wook created a new visual style to tell this story of revenge. Every detail and every special effect is carefully planned to organize the timeline of the story. And the color scheme is very monochromatic. Every little color that associates with Geum-ja becomes such a symbolic that is ideally for her inner darkness. And it is nice to see major players from MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY appear in the film.
That said, LADY VENGEANCE is much more heartfelt than the first two. Perhaps it has much more malice, too, but it leaves you with a sense of sentimentality. The film focuses on the effect of long-anticipated payback and it is a pleasure to go through it with Geum-ja. –Shogo