I’m swamped today as I continue to get ready for my final days in my current job, so I haven’t had time to write any of the several posts I’ve intended over the past couple days. However, I went to the first night of the Walter Reade Theater’s “Film Comment Selects” series, which is dedicated to films that have yet to receive distribution in the US. Usually, many of the films still don’t have deals by the time they screen. That is not the case with the two movies I saw last night: Oldboy (which won the Grand Prix for director Park Chan-wook at Cannes last summer) and Clean (from director Olivier Assayas and staring Maggie Cheung).
Hopefully I’ll find time to address both films in more detail later. In brief, I was slightly disappointed by Clean,. I’m no Assayas expert, but I’ve seen several of his films, and this one is by far the most conventional story, especially with its reasonably happy ending. It’s the anti-Demonlover in many ways, although the two films share the quality of having incredibly abrupt endings that in their own ways aren’t that satisfying. It’s worth seeing, if only for the phenomenal Cheung (who won an acting prize at Cannes last summer for this performance), but it didn’t blow me away. Palm Pictures will release Clean later this year.
On the other hand, Oldboy blew me the eff away! If Filmbrain has ever been right about a movie (as opposed to his feelings about Mr. Gallo), it’s this one. Wow wow wow! A revenge tale with many twists and turns (I actually figured out the big one before the end, but doing so didn’t lessen the impact to me), Oldboy is most definitely not for the feint of heart. It isn’t as graphically violent as I had been led to believe, but there are at least three specific scenes that are very hard to watch and a bit gorey. I didn’t find the last shot of the movie to be “so haunting, so disturbing, that it most certainly deserves a place in the ‘greatest closing shots’ pantheon,” as Filmbrain did, but that’s not a criticism of the film as much as my refraining from hyperbole. The last shot has its own dramatic power; it just didn’t knock me out of my seat, nor did it need to.
I actually saw Oldboy as being like the evil twin to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — told as a dark revenge tale. There are issues of love and memory and loss just like in Eternal Sunshine. Don’t get me wrong – these are completely different movies, and if you’re an Eternal Sunshine fan, I only suggest you see Oldboy if you can handle a bit of blood. But there are parallel themes and even events which, when the credits started rolling, made me think of Michel Gondry’s brilliant film. The film’s are also similar in one other respect: Park’s visual style and storytelling techniques are not the norm – he brings a fundamental understanding of the craft of filmmaking and even some possible allusions to earlier influences to this work.
Indie distributor Tartan USA will give Oldboy a limited release sometime in March or April which means if you’re in New York, LA or several other major cities, you’ll be able to see it. Otherwise, I’m sure the future DVD will be well worth the rental. And although I will caution again that there are a few scenes here that not everyone will want to see, this is the kind of fresh and exciting filmmaking that should not be missed.
Hopefully, both of these films are representative of the quality of this year’s “Film Comment Selects” lineup. I know I’ll be trying to check-out more in order to see for myself.
Out of Focus 
Which Oldboy showing did you go to? I was at the 4 o’clock.
I liked the movie. It was incredibly tight, and while watching it, I had the feeling that I was in good hands – the editing was spot on, a very well put together picture, like when you know that a GOOD director is working even if the movie isn’t mind blowing, which Oldboy wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t “worthy.” The final twist is predictable from their first meeting, and while it doesn’t necessarily diminish the impact (since the reactions are what make a lasting impression) it does make you want to hurry the pace a bit just to get there.
One thing floored me, though, and it was the first major fight scene, a moment of Bazinian long take brilliance and the camera takes a Henry Ford assembly line stance and tracks left to right following a tremendous beating, stopping and starting as the action dictates. It is one of those long takes that is completely inconspicuous until the moment where you realize the film still hasn’t cut and the jaw drops – choreography brilliantly and eloquently executed.
I would have liked to see Clean but will see it next month during the French film series at Walter Reade. I absolutely loved Demonlover but have no idea what to make of Assayas in general – he seems like a complete hyperactive – jumping from genre to genre without any sort of thread, but I do like how he is coming into his own with a consistent release of new movies.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the series including Izo, Sympathy for Mr. Vengence, the Rivette picture, and above all the Fuller double feature!
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I’m at the Frankfurt airport, completey wiped from only getting two hours sleep on the overnight flight from NY, but I’m thrilled to read you enjoyed Oldboy. I’m amazed you figured out the twist — I never saw it coming.
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What was so spectacular about the last shot? Perhaps I’m missing something, or misremembering the exact ending of the movie.
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No, I’m with you phyrephox. I think Filmbrain in his post on his site might have just been talking about the power of the situation as he saw it, but I agree with you and don’t think it was anything spectacular. It was a good ending, but not a breathtaking shot. (I don’t want to describe the last shot cause I don’t want to give anything away from the film — I guess I can say you see people looking at a snow capped mountain range from behind and then the camera moves off them and onto the mountain range.) There is so weight in the sitaution of the last two shots, say, simply because of how many different directions things can go, though.
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