Wilson over at BlackFilm manages to get himself lots of pictures and posters. Usually I am jealous, but tonight I find myself relieved. See, he has premiered the US poster for Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, the tremendously good first film in Park Chan-Wook’s vengeance trilogy (they’re unrelated beyond theme – Old Boy is the second film and the soon-to-be released in Korea and on the streets of Chinatown Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is the third), and it really kinda stinks. Had CHUD.com gotten the poster I wouldn’t have been able to tell you just how boring it is, and how it doesn’t even begin to hint at the strange and sometimes funny violence and madness that is the hallmark of this film. And that wouldn’t be selling out – it would just be courtesy.
But we didn’t premiere it! And so my commentary lives. The film is hitting theaters in the US in August and you really should see it – don’t let the poster make you skip it, because you’ll be sorry. Dark and sort of comic, Mr. Vengeance is about a deaf-mute, organ thieves, a kidnapped girl, Achilles tendons, electric torture, and the complete futility of revenge. It’s as good as Old Boy, and possibly with a more accessible emotional core. Don’t miss this one.