Stars: Yeong-Ae Lee, Min-Sik Choi, Si-Hu Kim, Yea-Young Kwon

Director: Chan-Wook Park

Summary: While serving a 13-year prison sentence for kidnapping and child murder Lee Guem-ja has been secretly planning retribution on the man who put her there. Now that she has been released she is ready to put her plan into action. However her thirst for revenge could be thrown into turmoil when she meets up with her long lost daughter.

South Korean maestro Park Chan-wook concludes his Revenge Trilogy with the operatic, mesmerizing SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE. Unlike the first two films in the trilogy--SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and OLDBOY--this time around, the hero is a heroine. On the heels of her release from prison, Lee Geum-ja (Lee Yeong-ae) embarks on a mission to track down the man responsible for her imprisonment, which also resulted in her being forced to give up her daughter for adoption. Hardened by years in the penitentiary and endlessly fantasising about the right way to exact revenge, she enlists the help of former cellmates to accomplish her goal. But what she uncovers is a secret so horrifying that no revenge seems fitting.

Employing the same techniques (symphonic music, electrifying cinematography, sharp editing) that made OLDBOY such a thrilling cinematic experience, Park Chan-wook concludes his trilogy on a somber note. Beginning as a flashy, almost lighthearted spectacle, SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE gradually reveals itself to be a poignant commentary on the futility of revenge. Fortunately, the director’s sheer audacity and technical virtuosity keeps it from succumbing to total darkness.

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Reviewed by: davybozal24-7
Posted on June 5, 2006 8:28 AM

Being a real sucker for all films from the orient , I thought that I would
give this wee gem a go , and I was not disappointed . A beautiful
young girl , Lee Geum - ja , became notorious in the media for assisting in the abduction and murder of a young boy . 13 years later , she's released from jail after becoming a model prisoner .
But she has spent time behind bars plotting her revenge on the real murderer . Will her actions lead to salvation or damnation ? Is she an angel of mercy or a vengeful predator ? This is a kick-ass film!

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It's rare that a movie combines extreme violence, visual panache, and gut-wrenching emotion, but Lady Vengeance is just such a movie. Geum-ja Lee (the lovely Yeong-ae Lee, Joint Security Area) is sent to prison at the age of 19 for kidnapping and murdering a 5-year-old boy. She becomes a model prisoner, apparently converting to Christianity and helping care for ill prisoners--but in fact, she's slowly making connections that will allow her to wreak revenge on the man responsible for her imprisonment. The first half of Lady Vengeance, in which Geum-ja Lee's plans are laid and her victim captured, spins to and fro in time with dizzying speed, moving fluidly among multiple narrative tracks. But once the man is in her clutches, the movie takes a turn that proves more harrowing and more emotionally complex than the previous films in writer/director Chan-wook Park's "vengeance trilogy," Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance or Oldboy--and if you've seen either of those films, you'll understand what a feat that is. These movies have much in common with the revenge tragedies written by contemporaries of Shakespeare; ornate plots full of extreme violence and perverse sex that delve into the darkest--yet often most vulnerable--sides of humanity. For all its sensational aspects, Lady Vengeance observes the toll of vengeance on the revenger; there's nothing cheap or easy about it. This movie, even more than Oldboy, demonstrates that Chan-wook Park is one of the most vital filmmakers of our time. --Bret Fetzer

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	Korean
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Director And Cinematographer Commentary, Tartan Trailer Reel, Making Of Documentary, Film Notes
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2005
Release Date:	May 8, 2006
Runtime:	115 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	T V D 3671
Label:	Asia Extreme
Keywords:	Lady, Vengeance, Action, Subtitled, General, Adventure, Korean
Genre:	Action/Adventure