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76. Oldboy (2003)





This badass and mindbending Korean flick blowed my mind the first time I watched it. Like many other people, I love it when films are able to mislead and ultimately surprise me with a good twist. This film is one of the most shockingly effective ones in that area.
However, films that solely rely on a plot twist are often not really that much fun anymore once you've watched them for the first time and know the twist ending. This is one of those really good twisty films, though. It has much more to offer than just a shocking ending.

What really attracted me to this film, was its oddness. This film contains some really strange and over the top scenes and most of them, if not all of them, work very well! I love it when risky moments in films succeed and I think risk is the source of some of the best film moments of all time. The clearest example in this film is of course the octopus eating scene. It's memorable, it's odd, but it somehow fits the tone of the film and even elevates the overall experience.

I also love how Oldboy is able to hold a sincere emotional core throughout all its weirdness. The plot is extremely improbable, but the film handles everything with enough style, seriousness and emotion to make everything engaging and entertaining.
The film also looks remarkably beautiful and truly shows how visuals can be a very important added value in terms of connection between a story and an audience. This story would feel rather silly and extremely over the top on paper, but with the right visual treatment it somehow unfolds into something great.

Oldboy is deservedly considered as one of the most popular and entertaining foreign films of our times.



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