Oldboy (2003 film)

Oldboy (Hangul:올드보이) is a 2003 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook. It is based on a Japanese manga of the same name written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. Oldboy is the second installment of The Vengeance Trilogy, preceded by Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and followed by Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.

The film won the Grand Prix at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and high praise from the President of the Jury, director Quentin Tarantino, who could not persuade the members of the jury to give it the Palme d'Or over Fahrenheit 9/11.

Oh Dae-su

• When the melody turns on, gas comes out. When the gas comes out, I fall asleep. I found out later it's the same Valium gas the Russians used on those Chechen terrorists.

• Anyone here with an AB blood type, raise your hand.

• As I expected, I can't get along with anyone today either.

• Erasing my memory and telling me to find the truth was cowardly. I won. So die like you promised.

• Please. Don't tell Mido. What has she done wrong? You know it was all my fault... I have committed an unforgivable sin, against your sister. And I also... Did you wrong. But, please leave Mido alone... If by any chance Mido finds out the truth, you son of a bitch, I'll tear you limb from limb. And your remains will never be found. Why? Because I'm going to swallow every last bit.

• I thought I'd lived a simple life. But I've sinned too much.

• The TV is both a clock and a calendar. It's your school, your home, your church, your friend... [Dae-su masturbates to a pop star onscreen] ... and your lover. But... my lover's song is too short.

• If they had told me it was going to be fifteen years, would it have been easier to endure?

• Even though I'm no better than a beast, don't I have the right to live?

• Can fifteen years of imaginary training really be put to use? [Dae-su fights a gang of thugs] Apparently, it can.

• Can fifteen years of imaginary training really be put to use? [Dae-su tries to sexually assault Mi-do and gets clobbered] No. It can't.

• Laugh, and the world laughs with you...Weep, and you weep alone.

• I said... I want to eat something alive. [Before eating a live octopus]

• I will avenge for my fifteen years... for every tooth I pull out...you will age by one year. [Dae-Su to the man owing the complex where he was imprisoned]

• I have truly become a monster...

• No...first I have to kill the bastard! [Responding in his mind to Mido about visiting his wife's grave]

• If you see a man whose face is hidden behind a violet umbrella...then...my advice is that you become good friends with Television.

• One month...I'm out in one month...One month, just one month...I'm out in one month! What if I am on the 50th floor? I don't care if I fall right down on the ground...I would still be out! [When licking his hands touched by the first raindrops he felt in 15 years after digging with a chopstick through the wall]

Woo-jin Lee

• Remember this: "Be it a rock or a grain of sand, in water they sink as the same."

• What I am isn't important. Why is important.

• You really are the very monster I created, aren't you? But you won't find out the "why" of this if you kill me. Fifteen years of being curious would go to waste.

• I'm going to kill every woman you love until you die. You're notorious for not protecting your women.

• Your gravest mistake wasn't failing to find the answer. You can't find the right answer if you ask the wrong questions.

• Oh Dae-su talks too much.

• Your tongue got my sister pregnant! It wasn't Woo-jin Lee's dick; it was Dae-su Oh's tongue!

• And now... now, what joy will I have left to live for?

• How's life in a bigger prison, Dae-su?

External links

• Oldboy quotes at the Internet Movie Database

On YouTube:

• Start of the movie - The first 10' 15". Soundtrack dubbed in English, here.
• (music) "Look Who's Talking" by Jo Yeong-wook
• (music) "The Last Waltz" - by Jo Yeong-wook
• (music) "Cries and Whispers" - by Lee Ji-Soo