Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

'Sympathy For Lady Vengeance' (2005, Chan-wook Park) is unlike any film I have ever seen before. I have to admit, until the past year I had not seen many non-English speaking films (Apart from a few in French and German language lessons!). Last year I watched 'City Of God' (2002, Meirelles) and 'La Haine' (1995, Kassovitz) as part of my studies. The fact that I had to read subtitles throughout didn't bother me at all, In fact I quite liked it.

'Sympathy For Lady Vengeance' was first introduced to me by my uncle. He was telling me about it one summer, and bought me the DVD later that year for my birthday. I found this film quite challenging. There are some difficult scenes to watch, particularly if like me you are squeamish with blood !

The story follows Lee Guem-ja who has been jailed for the kidnap and murder of a young boy that she admitted to, but was not the one who committed the crime. She plots for 13 years with her fellow inmates to seek revenge on the real criminal upon her release, in order to find relief, which is helped by reunion with her daughter.

This film was definitely a difficult watch for me and the storyline was relatively hard to follow, but it was different (not only in language) but style. Visually it stood out as an excellent piece of filmmaking. The use of the colour red is particularly significant, standing out against the white snowy backdrop. 'Sympathy For Lady Vengeance' is the third in a trilogy of films from director Chan-wook Park, and if I get the chance, I would really like to watch the first two -  'Sympathy For Mr Vengeance' (2002) and 'Oldboy' (2003)

Spike Lee  directed the remake of 'Sympathy For Mr Vengeance' (2013) starring Josh Brolin, which I am yet to see. (I think i'll watch the original first!). 'Sympathy For Mr Vengeance' remake is due for release in 2018 (IMDB), and 'Sympathy For Lady Vengeance' remake is currently in development. (IMDB)