Oldboy
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Park Chan-wook
Yu Ji-tae
Ji Dae-han
Oh Dal-su
Lee Seung-shin
Yun Jin-seo
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
OH Dae-su is an ordinary Seoul businessman with a wife and little daughter who, after a drunken night on the town, is locked up in a strange, private "prison" for 15 years. No one will tell him why he is there and whom his jailer is, but he is kept in reasonably comfortable quarters and has a TV to keep him company. While watching TV, he discovers that he has been framed for his wife's murder and realizes that, during one of the occasions in which he was knocked out with gas, someone has drawn blood from him and left it at the scene of the crime. The imprisonment lasts for fifteen years until Dae-su finds himself unexpectedly deposited on a grass-covered high-rise rooftop. OH Dae-su is determined to discover who his mysterious enemy is. He gets his first clue when a homeless man hands him a cell phone and a wallet full of cash. Later, while Dae-su is eating in a Japanese restaurant, the phone rings and a voice challenges him to find the reason for his imprisonment. Dae-su blacks out only to awaken in the apartment of the restaurant's pretty, young waitress, Mido. Mido helps him search for his hidden prison, but one night, Dae-su finds Mido exchanging emails with a mysterious stranger who seems to know all about him. Convinced Mido has betrayed him, he continues the search on his own. Dae-su locates his former prison and beats up the gangsters who served as his captors. A tape offers clues as to his enemy's motives, but not his identity. Dae-su blacks out on the street and after being helped into a cab by his mysterious, but still unnamed foe, he ends up back at Mido's. An old friend who owns a cyber café helps Dae-su discover that Mido's emailer, "Evergreen," is indeed the man who had him locked up. Dae-su is enraged by Mido's apparent betrayal, but a face-to-face confrontation with his smooth-talking adversary ends with Dae-Su's conviction that she is innocent. The man gives Dae-su five days to discover who he is and why he imprisoned him. He is told that if he succeeds, the man will kill himself; if he does not, he will kill Mido.
Director
Park Chan-wook
Cast
Yu Ji-tae
Ji Dae-han
Oh Dal-su
Lee Seung-shin
Yun Jin-seo
Lee Dae-yun
Oh Tae-gyung
Ahn Yeon-suk
Oo Il-han
Kim Byung-ok
Choi Min-shik
Kang Hye-won
Crew
Park Chan-wook
Son Chong-hee
Chung-hoon Chung
Chung-hoon Chung
Kim Dong-joo
Tsuchiya Garon
Shim Hyun-jung
Park Hyun-won
Han Jae-duk
Kim Jang-wook
Lee Ji-soo
Hwang Jo-yun
Lim Jun-hyung
Lee Jung Soo
Syd Lim
Minegishi Nobuaki
Kim Sang-bum
Cho Sang-kyung
Lee Sang-wook
Lee Seong-chul
Yoo Seong-hee
Ryu Seong-heui
Ji Young-joon
Cho Young-wuk
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Spring March 25, 2005
Released in United States on Video August 23, 2005
Released in United States 2005
Released in United States January 2005
Released in United States March 2005
Shown at Santa Barbara International Film Festival January 28-February 6, 2005.
Shown at South by Southwest Film Festival March 11-19, 2005.
Released in United States Spring March 25, 2005 (NY, LA)
Released in United States on Video August 23, 2005
Released in United States 2005 (Shown at Santa Barbara International Film Festival January 28-February 6, 2005.)
Released in United States January 2005 (Shown at Sundance Film Festival (Midnight) January 20-30, 2005.)
Released in United States March 2005 (Shown at South by Southwest Film Festival March 11-19, 2005.)
Winner of the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
