Oldboy
No other film has had this alluring of an effect on me
I first watched this over a year and a half ago, and after quite some time where I couldn’t stop thinking about it, it sunk down to the lower depths of my ‘movie memory’ and I didn’t feel the need to revisit it
While I loved it for all the reasons I could, I just couldn’t bring myself to rate it higher or award its place in my Top 50 or anything of the sort
I just had to leave it
For some reason I doubt I’ll ever know, over the last week I’ve had the indisputable need to rewatch
It’s the only film I’ve thought about watching and today was finally the day for it
So before I even watch it again, there’s this extremely bizarre build up, where I am so aware of how much I’m going to love it, and it has all just fallen into place
Needless to say, with regards to the actual film, it is flawless
Exacted in it style, wild and free to move and flow however it pleases
And it hurts but you cannot look away
There are simply too many of cinemas greatest peaks in here to cast it aside
And it’s things you wouldn’t expect:
A yoga pose as the music swells
A compilation of a drunk man annoying the policemen
A seemingly out of place cameo of subtitles during an interrogation
A red dotted line
As well as things you would expect:
An incredible one shot action sequence
A genius ending
An immaculately crafted antagonist
The greatest death in film history
The most impactful and vile revelation in cinema
No other film has my entire face tensed for half an hour straight
No other film can have my laugh and be sick to my stomach in the same breath
No other film can mould such exact callbacks through dialogue, voiceover, text and action
No other film is this one and, no matter how much I hate to say it fresh of a watch, it’s one of my favourites ever
Had to get intense for this one
My head hurts in a good way