Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance: Another winner in Korean film
I don't know if my last article about Korean cinema had any impact on some of you who read my stuff but it piqued the interest of the person who reads my articles more than anyone else: Me.
Therefore i went on quest to find more Korean thrillers and I found a bunch. "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" is the first one i watched and it did not disappoint.
The story begins tragically as a lower class man is working his ass off in order to save money to get a kidney transplant for his very sick sister.
He also has the added luxury of being deaf and mute so not very many people can speak to him at all, including the doctor who is trying to explain to him that he cannot donate his own kidney because he is the wrong blood type.
You immediately feel bad for "Ryu" because he seems like a genuinely kind person who is perfectly willing to work himself to death in order to help his sister. It becomes especially sad because he does succeed in saving up the necessary 10 million Won for the operation only to have it stolen from him.
This is where the story becomes dark: I don't want to spoil very much because well, you might want to watch this movie as well and i highly recommend that you do. Ryu and his anti-government girlfriend concoct a way of getting the money and it isn't exactly ethical. His girlfriend is part of an underground anarchist organization and if I remember correctly is was almost entirely her idea.
There are lots of twists and turn and well which is delightfully common in Korean thrillers. There is plenty of blood and shocking moments also.
If you have ever heard of any Korean movies you are likely to have heard of "Oldboy" which was remade recently in English with American actors - I didn't watch this, i didn't need to, the Korean one is a masterpiece. Anyway, I was unaware that Oldboy is actually part 2 of a 3 part series. And "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" is part 1.
This movie is about 2 hours long and at no point do you feel as though you know what is going to happen next, which is something I like so much about Korean movies.
"Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" won tons of awards in Korea and none overseas. I think this is quite common.
I give this movie a 9 out of 10 because it isn't a masterpiece, but it is awfully close.
Thanks for reading and as always, I welcome your comments.
Thank you @gooddream for yet another one.
I certainly followed the ‘Bedevilled’ you shared. Oh great, I’ll surely watch this one too since you have recommmended. Sincerely, speaking of blood and shocking moments makes me anticipatory .
I watched ‘Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance‘ in 2006 and I didn’t know it had other parts. Now I can connect with the name ‘Ryu’. He also had a sister with kidney problem. I see the link now
For such rating I think it is a much watch for me.
That is really sad, after saving up and it got stolen. I can imagine the frustration.
This movie is a must watch for me.
This movie is superb, having won a lot of awards.
Did he later save his sister?
i think you should watch the movie and find out. it's just two hours of your life and the entire movie is available to stream for free online, legally. I didn't include the link because i don't know how this community feels about that. It is easy enough to find :) Thanks for reading!
Thank you very much. I will search for it online
The last post about Bedevilled was an eye opener to some good movie with a great storyline that will get you stuck to your tv screen(
)
This is another with similar characteristics of awesome storyline. His is another one rate 9 of 10 by you.
It’s definitely worth seeing
Wow a 9/10 the movie must be really fantastic, i cant get tired of Korean movies, well ofcoyrse interesting ones, this already sounds like something i will like to watch, meanwhile please check out Death note even if its just the preview clip, its totally awesome, thanks for sharing this, i saw the Bedeviled preview clip, it was craaaaazy
i will check that out. Thanks for the tip. I have heard of this movie Death Note but never watched it. Thanks for reading !
Well I se @gooddream you have been watching Korean movies a lot now haha. Well I really think that this movie is going to be a great one after reading this
I do like these kinds of movies, such movies tells us a lot about love and emotions. Thanks to you for sharing this with us and what you are doing is really appreciated.
It seems that this movie will be full of emotions. I would definitely watch it, this is on my list now.
much better .. hahaha well explained is no longer necessary to investigate, the drama of the film seems interesting to me I have to see it, it is good to see when in the film you never know what can happen. what makes the movie exciting. the oriental movie has that peculiarity
You know, not all superheroes have powers and also wear sophisticated gears. Ryu is undoubtedly a superhero - not the marvel or DC comics type tho. He is deaf and dumb, yet he did not let that discourage him from doing his best possible to save his sister with deterioration health condition. He eventually was able to obtain the required amount only to have it stolen - very sad. I really love the plot of this movie, and it promises to be full of suspense as well as twist and turns. 'cause Korean movies are ultimately great at those. I'm definitely going to look it up on the internet and stream it. Nice recommendation @gooddream. Keep 'em coming
Nice movie!
I wonder why all the sentiment in the movie industry, I wonder why such a great job do not have proper recognition?
Thank you for not spoiling the show..hahah, and thank God, I have some free time this week too, I will look for it to enjoy. Oldboy,Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, what of the part one, you didn't mention that, I would love to watch all of them together, can you please help me with that title?
Can you imagine American trying to replicate the work of this guys, they might end up winning some awards for copy cat whereas the original work was not recognised
Sounds interesting. I'll put it on my hit list but to be honest your description .. lacking the key parts like the climax .. HA.. will most likely be it. I try again and again to watch the movies with subtitles and get frustrated with having to back it up. What did they just say, or rather what was just written? I'm a subtitle looser.
Looks like a good movie though .. smile smile