south korean film maker kim ji-woon (a tale of two sisters) released "i saw the devil (akmareul boattda)," a nietzschean, gothic narrative of monsters creating and meeting their very own monsters, starring lee byung-hun and "old boy's" legendary choi min-sik. unlike park chan wok's thematic revenge films (old boy, sympathy for mr. vengeance, lady vengeance), this polarizing movie does not revolve solely on the south korean genre's existentialist norm nor getting even, but the exact opposite in which violence breeds really nothing else but violence. despite the over-the-top (yet realistic) gore, this is indubitably a mesmerizing peek at the nature of evil, much more frightening than cormack mccarthy's indelible villain in his literary piece "blood meridian," in a sense that the devil here is nothing but the utter reflection of ourselves at our worst.
"i saw the devil" is definitely not for the faint at heart (or philistines for that matter since it's subtitled) but it's nowhere near as gore-tuitous as lars von trier's horrid and poorly constructed "antichrist." and if you're looking for something completely outside of the weak, mainstream, hollywood norm with non-stop, gut-wrenching thrills, this just might hit your spot the right way.
what can i do? ^__^
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