Chan-wook Park's - Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - Boksuneun naui geot - DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review Chan-wook Park Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance Boksuneun naui geot DVD Review

(aka "Boksuneun naui geot" )

directed by Park Chan-wook
South Korea 2002

Ryu is a deaf-mute, whose sister needs a kidney transplant. As the hospital informs him, that no kidney is available, the turns a black market organ dealers, who demand his own kidney and 10 million won in return for a kidney for his sister. But hardly has he made the deal, before he wakes up, naked in the middle of nowhere, without a kidney and without any traces of the dealers.

The next day a donor is found, but as Ryu has spend the money intended for his sisters operation and stay at the hospital, the sister cannot get the operation. Desperate, Ryu now, with the help of his girlfriend, kidnaps the daughter of his former boss. The plan works, he gets the money he needs in ransom, but as he returns home, he find that his sister has committed suicide. While burying her at their favourite spot at the river, because of him begin deaf, he doesn’t hear the kidnapped daughter shouts for help and thus she drowns. When the rich businessman, Dong-Jin, discovers that his daughter is dead, he vows to avenge her death.

Directed by Park Chan-wook, who also made “JSA” and “Old Boy”, the film is a elegy on what desperation can lead to, and as such about simple everyday human beings and what they will do out of single minded zeal. It can be approached as having two halves, the first, a tragic comic point-of-view of Ryu, the second, a violent point-of-view by Dong-Jin. And just like in the other films by Park, he examines both sides, having one side as a cause, the other as the effect.

Returning to work with Park is Song Kang-ho, who also plays one of the leading detective in “Memories of Murder”. He is a great actor, and perfectly embodies the as ordinary as they come Korean businessman, who turns into a single minded sadistic monster.

The film is less visual than both “JSA” and “Old Boy”, almost seductive in its minimalist style, and takes full advantage of Ryu being deaf-mute to play with inventive mise-en-scene, where the composition is far more important than the sound, and where the lack of hearing enables for some beautiful elliptic compositions. A extremely powerful film by a great director.

Henrik Sylow

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 29, 2002

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DVD Comparison:

CJ Entertainment (Special Edition) - Region 3 - NTSC vs. TF1 Vidéo (Edition Collector Limitée) - Region 2 - PAL vs. Tartan Asia Extreme (Collector's Edition) - Region 0 - PAL

Big thanks to Will Kelly and Vincent BOUCHÉ and Henrik Sylow for the Screen Caps!

(CJ Entertainment (Special Edition) - Region 3 - NTSC - LEFT vs. TF1 Vidéo (Edition Collector Limitée) - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Tartan Asia Extreme (Collector's Edition) - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	CJ Entertainment Region 3 - NTSC	TF1 Vidéo Region 2 - PAL	Tartan Asia Extreme Region 0 - PAL
Runtime	2:00:52	01:56:1 (4% PAL speedup)	2:01:00
Video	2.25:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.92 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	2.35:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 8.30 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s	2.21:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 6.36 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: CJ Entertainment (Special Edition)
Bitrate: TF1 Vidéo (Edition Collector Limitée)
Bitrate: Tartan Asia Extreme (Collector's Edition)
Audio	2.0 Dolby Digital Korean, 5.1 Dolby Digital Korean, DTS Korean	Korean Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1	2.0 Dolby Digital Korean, 5.1 Dolby Digital Korean, 6.1 DTS ES Korean
Subtitles	Korean, English, None	French (forced on Korean soundtracks) NO ENGLISH SUBTITLES	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: CJ Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.25:1 Edition Details: • Disc 1: Audio commentary by Park Chan-wook • Disc 2: • Featurette: Dactylology • Featurette: Star Review • Featurette: Special Makeup • Featurette: Cameo Role • My Boksu Story • Moving Continuity • Storyboards of certain scenes with sound • Cast & Crew Interviews • Production Notes • Trailer • Photo Gallery • Cast and Crew Profiles DVD Release Date: August 10, 2002 Keep Case Chapters 19	Release Information: Studio: TF1 Vidéo Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.35:1 Edition Details: • Audio commentary by Park Chan-wook and Ryo • Bonus trailers (DISC 1) • Credits (DISC 1) • Park Chan-wook interview (15:13) (DISC 2) • Featurette: Dactylology (5:23) (DISC 2) • Featurette: Star Review (8:27) (DISC 2) • Featurette: Special Makeup (6:51) (DISC 2) • Featurette: Cameo Role (11:08) (DISC 2) • 5 interviews of actors (DISC 2) • 2 Technical crew interviews (DISC 2) • 3 Musci composition interviews (DISC 2) • Filmographies • Theatrical Trailer • Web link DVD Release Date: June 9, 2004 Digipack Chapters 18	Release Information: Studio: Tartan Asia Extreme Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.21:1 Edition Details: • Audio commentary by Park Chan-wook and Ryo Seung-wan • Behind the scenes (29:57) • Trailer (1:49) • Other Tartan releases DVD Release Date: February 28, 2005 Keep Case Chapters 16

Comments

ADDITION: TF1 Video - Region 2- PAL - It is always frustrating to find superior French image quality with non-removable French subtitles. It happens quite a bit (Campion's 'The Piano" comes to mind) as a copyright issue. French production companies get the rights for a film in their country and must adhere to disabling removal of the French subtitles when the original audio is played. I've stated before that France and Japan produce some of the best DVDs around, but unfortunately , in this case, the subtitles will deter the image.

Gary Tooze

Image
Both images differ from the suggested OAR of 2.35:1. The CJ image is 2.25:1, where the Tartan image is 2.21:1. I cannot tell which of the two images has been either squeezed or stretched 4% horizontally. But as the former Tartan image, as far as I know, was 2.25:1, one can only assume, that the Tartan CE image has been squeezed 4% horizontally.

The CJ image suffers from various compression artifacts, which causes serious pixelation (see Image #6). In scenes with an even background, the CJ image compresses the picture into 8x8px areas. Contra to that, the Tartan image is next to flawless. Simply a stunning picture.

The Tartan is a NTSC to PAL transfer, having no PAL speed-up. As such, there are limited ghosting issues.

Finally, the Tartan image is darker and has a balanced light / contrast ratio, where the CJ has received so much contrast, that white elements remove any details (see ripples in water in Image #3).

A comparison between the old and new Tartan would be nice.

Sound
The Tartan has received an upgrade in sound, from the 5.1 DTS to a new 6.1 DTS ES mix, and it is nothing less than impressive. While the film is very centre, the new mix adds a whole new soundstage in the rears, by more detailed separation than the 5.1 Dolby Digital.

Extras
Tartan has ported the "Behind the scenes" from their 2003 edition, and added the audio commentary by Park and Ryo, which I assume is the same as on the Korean. It is a nice audio commentary, where they talk about the film and elements towards the film, as for instance the small nuances in sound.

The advantage here is, that Tartan has English subtitles on the audio commentary, as CJ has none. For a non-Korean speaking audience, it matters little if the CJ has tons of extra, as they cannot understand what people say during them. That's why Tartan gets the best extra here, as they have made them accessible for the general viewer.

- Henrik Sylow

DVD Menus
(CJ Entertainment (Special Edition) - Region 3 - NTSC - LEFT vs. TF1 Vidéo (Edition Collector Limitée) - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Tartan Asia Extreme (Collector's Edition) - Region 0 - PAL - RIGHT)

Screen Captures

(CJ Entertainment (Special Edition) - Region 3 - NTSC - TOP vs. TF1 Vidéo (Edition Collector Limitée) - Region 2 - PAL - MIDDLE vs. Tartan Asia Extreme (Collector's Edition) - Region 0 - PAL - BOTTOM)

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Report Card:

Image:	TF1 Video
Sound:	Tartan (new 6.1 DTS ES)
Extras:	Tartan (subtitles on extras)
Menu:	---

DVD Box Covers

Distribution

CJ Entertainment

Region 3 - NTSC

TF1 Vidéo
Region 2 - PAL

Tartan Asia Extreme
Region 0 - PAL

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