When I decided to rewatch it yesterday, I was rather scared. I hesitated a lot, because I was afraid that it wouldn't be as good as I remember and… My worries were definitely for naught. Even though I managed to notice the first wrinkles of its “old age”, and even if it didn’t make me feel like the first time, I think it’s still marvelous.

Park Chan Wook - Tarantino’s favorite, former film critic, a director with a dark style whose movies you just have to watch at least once in your lifetime. It’s really a pity that people only pay attention to the “Oldboy” and “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” gets recognition mostly as the “movie that opens the vengeance trilogy”. It’s a masterpiece. It should have its own huge audience.

It definitely won’t let you off with a sense of fulfillment or a feeling of pleasure. You probably won’t smile even once through the whole movie. Despite being a thriller, there are genre-breaking elements in it - comedy scenes… or rather I say: black humor, sorely black humor. That’s exactly why, before anything else, after the screening you’ll feel emptiness and bitterness.

There is a lot of beautiful cinematography in “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance”. The shots are wide, taken from a distance, asymmetrical, making you feel like a peeper. It’s just so elegant yet brutal and mundane. The realistic direction, its rawness and the lack of any metaphors are the things that make this movie so terrifying. It doesn’t need any frightening music, suspense or scenes full of blood. Its down-to-earthness is what makes it a horrific ride. Because it can happen in the real world, outside the screen.

It’s amazing how silent this movie was for the most of the time, without any unnecessary background music. Just fascinating direction, good plot and the most incredible actors.