Korean Monster

Aside from the booms, bangs and crashes, the laughs and giggles, the sighs and tears, a few select movies originating from the four corners of the planet have as their primary objective the exploration of the human psyche, both at its best and at its worst. Some would say, pardoning the clichê, that these movies investigate the soul.

There seems to be, and understandably so, a perduring tendency for the movie industry to focus on the "feel-good" aspects, portraying beauty, love, decency, virtue and the likes. But I ask you: How great is it when it all turns sour? Isn´t it a fantastic experience - and a satisfyingly unexpected one - when all hell breaks loose and reality hits the fan?

OLDBOY: A Korean movie which slowly crept into my "to watch" list. It is no masterpiece, it is no technological marvel, it is no great cinematographic feat. Yet, as I sat down to watch it, I could not imagine what was in store for me in the subsequent two hours. Scary to think that such a story could ever be concatenated in somebody´s head, but there it was. I will not give away the plot, as it deserves to be absorbed and deciphered individually, but please allow me to attempt a synthesis of its essence:

A monster is let loose from the depths of the mind.