Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a 2002 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook. It is the first part of his "vengeance trilogy" and is succeeded by Oldboy (2003) and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005).
The original Korean title means "Vengeance is Mine", or "Revenge is Mine", but the alternate English title was ostensibly chosen to avoid confusion with the Japanese film of the same name.
Plot
Ryu is a deaf-mute man who works in a factory. His ailing sister is in desperate need of a kidney transplant, but Ryu's is not a match. After he loses his job, Ryu contacts a group of black market organ dealers to exchange one of his kidneys for one that his sister can use. However, the dealers disappear after taking Ryu's kidney and severance money.
A legitimate kidney donor is found, but after having been conned by the organ dealers, Ryu is unable to afford the operation. To raise money, Yeong-mi, Ryu's radical anarchist girlfriend, suggests kidnapping the daughter of the executive that fired Ryu. They observe the executive with company president Park Dong-jin arriving at the latter's home one day, where one of Dong-jin's employees, Peng, attempts to commit harakiri in front of them. Ryu and Yeong-mi change their plan, deciding to kidnap Dong-jin's young daughter Yu-sun.
Yu-sun stays with Ryu's sister, who believes that Ryu is babysitting her. Ryu and Yeong-mi send a request for ransom to Dong-jin, and he obliges. Upon returning home with the ransom money, Ryu discovers that his sister learned that Yu-sun was kidnapped and not wanting to be a burden any longer, has committed suicide.
Ryu takes Yu-sun and his sister's body to a riverbed they frequented as children to bury her. Distracted by the burial and unable to hear, Ryu is unaware when Yu-sun slips into the river, and she drowns. After Yu-sun's body is discovered by authorities, a deeply mournful Dong-jin hires an investigator to find her kidnappers. Dong-jin finds Ryu's sister's corpse by the riverbed, interacts with a mentally disabled man who witnessed Ryu burying his sister, and begins to piece together the identities of Ryu and Yeong-mi.
Ryu, armed with a baseball bat, locates the organ traffickers and murders them, receiving a stab wound in the process. Meanwhile, Dong-jin finds Yeong-mi and tortures her with electricity, also killing a deliveryman who comes to her apartment. She apologizes for Yu-sun's death but warns Dong-jin that her terrorist friends will kill him if she dies. Unfazed, Dong-jin electrocutes her. Ryu returns to Yeong-mi's apartment and sees the police removing her corpse.
Dong-jin knocks Ryu unconscious with a booby trap. He takes Ryu to the riverbed where his daughter died and drags him into the water. Dong-jin slashes Ryu's Achilles tendon and waits for him to drown. After Dong-jin dismembers Ryu's corpse, Yeong-mi's anarchist associates arrive. They stab Dong-jin, pin a note to his chest with a knife, and leave him to die.
Cast
- Song Kang-ho as Park Dong-jin, Yu-sun's father and the president of a manufacturing company who is a friend of Ryu's employers
- Shin Ha-kyun as Ryu, a deaf-mute factory worker trying to pay his sister's hospital bills
- Bae Doona as Cha Yeong-mi, Ryu's girlfriend of several years
- Han Bo-bae as Yu-sun, Dong-jin's young daughter
- Im Ji-eun as Ryu's sister, who is in need of a kidney transplant
- Lee Dae-yeon as Choi, the investigator hired by Dong-jin
- Ryoo Seung-bum as a mentally disabled person at the lake
- Ryoo Seung-wan as a food delivery person at Cha's apartment
- Oh Kwang-rok as an anarchist
- Lee Kan-hee as Park Dong-jin's ex-wife
- Jung Jae-young as the husband of Dong-jin's ex-wife
