Vengeance Trilogy

After the box office failure of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and the box office success of Oldboy, Park Chan-Wook wanted to continue with the themes he’d been exploring of revenge but he wasn’t sure what angle to use. That’s when he struck on the idea of having a female protagonist. That, paired with the concept of justified vengeance, gave Park the idea he needed and Lady Vengeance was born. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we wrap up our series on Park Chan-Wook’s unofficial vengeance trilogy with his 2005 film Lady Vengeance. 

After the box office failure of his previous film, Park Chan-Wook worked hard with his next script to make something that would really draw people in. He cast two of South Korea’s biggest stars to play the leads and based it on a successful manga comic, weaving a dark mystery together that was very operatic. And it worked! His 2003 film Oldboy was a huge box office success and garnered incredible praise for everyone involved. It also helped establish Park as a filmmaker of note. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we continue our series on Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy with his film Oldboy. 

Park Chan-Wook never set out to make a trilogy. His ‘vengeance trilogy,’ in fact, only was later dubbed that by international critics who felt the three films were connected through themes of revenge, violence, and salvation. Luckily, he was able to make the second and third films in this ‘trilogy’ because this first one didn’t connect with audiences and it lost money. Join us as we kick off a new series looking at Park Chan-Wook’s Vengeance Trilogy with his 2002 film Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance.