The third film in South Korean director Chan-wook Park’s trilogy “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance” (that’s the original title folks for some reason Tartan Video decided that the lady didn’t deserve any sympathy I suppose) plays with the same themes as “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and “Oldboy” . “Lady Vengeance” (we’ll go the Tartan since it’s shorter) focuses on Lee Geum-Ja (Young-ae Lee a veteran of Park’s films) a young woman who has been falsely convicted of the murder of a young boy. After nearly 14 years in prison. Lee makes it through prison by making more friends than enemies but her kindness really is part of an elaborate plan—revenge against the man who really committed the murder her old high school teacher mr. Baek (Min-Shik Choi “Oldboy”). Chan-Wook Park brilliantly integrates both Lee’s past and present into a colorful, vibrant looking tale that will prove every bit as riveting as the first two parts of the thematically related trilogy.

Image & Sound:

Tartan provides a sharp, colorful transfer that does justice to the film. Mild compression artifacts do show up during some of the darker sequences along with some edge enhancement issues but on the whole the film looks extremely good with exceptional detail. We get both a marvelous 6.1 DTS mix and a more conventional Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. The former sounds terrific with a great amount of activity in the speakers no noticeably distortion and lively. The film is presented in Korean so we have subtitles and they are presented very clearly. ---

The film received a deluxe two disc release in a lot of countries and many of the best special features supposedly have been ported over. The commentary by the director and cinematographer Chung-Hoon Chung is subtitled. Director Chan-Wood Park and actress Young-ae Lee both appear on a second commentary track once again subtitled. The only draw back to the subtitled commentary tracks is the fact that you’ll be so busy reading the subtitles that you’ll miss many of the best scenes they’re talking about. Many fans will probably be listening to the third commentary tarck by Richard Pena a Professor of Film at Columbia University. ***

“The Making of ‘Sympathy for Lady Vengeance’” is a solid behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of the film and is presented in Korean with English subtitles. We also get a interesting interview with the director who contrasts the three films and the approach to the same thematic material as well as the impact of gender on the material. ---

Final Words: