A day after announcing their 20th anniversary restoration of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy, NEON have today released the trailer - and, unsurprisingly, it looks utterly gorgeous.
Since its release in 2003, the iconic revenge thriller has been considered by many to be not only one of the finest pieces of South Korean cinema, but one of the greatest movies of all time.
After being kidnapped and imprisoned for fifteen years, Oh Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is released, only to find that he must find his captor in five days.
To reveal any more about Oldboy's jaw-dropping plot would be a disservice to those who haven't seen it, so if that's you, make sure you're first in line to catch Oldboy, restored and remastered, in theaters on August 16, 2023.
Loosely based on the graphic novel Old Boy by Tsuchiya Garon and Minegishi Nobuaki, Oldboy marks the middle feature in Chan-wook's "Vengeance Trilogy,” alongside Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance. The film also helped to solidify the careers of Yoo Ji-tae and Kang Hye-jung, who both star as very important pieces of Oh Dae-su's puzzle.
Although Chan-wook was already a big name in his native South Korea thanks to 2000's Joint Security Area, Oldboy garnered the director widespread international acclaim, and played a big part in introducing many Western audiences to cinema from the country in the 'New Korean wave' that also included directors Bong Joon-ho and Kim Jee-woon.
An American remake of Oldboy was released in 2013 from Spike Lee.
It's hard to improve on something as artistically masterful as Oldboy, but NEON have done it: just look at the detail on that wriggling octopus! The saturation on that crimson blood! Needless to say, we'll be first in line for tickets for the restoration when they're announced - make sure you're checking with your local theater to find out where you can catch this masterpiece.
