Oldboy

AroView: Wowing audiences wherever it’s played (including being nominated for the Palm D’Or at Cannes), this achingly intense thriller from Korea raises the bar of the “gangster revenge scenario” to bracing extremes.

The charismatic Min-sik Choi is somewhat legendary in the role as the man who is first confined in solitary for 15 years without explanation, then released as a pawn in an elaborate and sick game by his mysterious captor. Directed with striking virtuosity, and perversely bent in all the right places, this contains at least two scenes that break cinematic ground (to Western eyes at least), while everything between announces itself as cinema on the cutting edge.

Presented here in the 2019 remastered version.

★★★★★ “This is cinema that holds an edge of cold steel against your throat” - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian