I am currently broiling in my office, as the building clings desperately to the notion that it is still mid-winter. It’s so hot that the chocolate kisses in the candy tray on my desk are melting. The thermostats have been placed on the walls for placebo effect; it isn’t working. I’m done with my burst of productive energy for the day, and the heat does not put me in the mood for knitting (haven’t forgotten you, Faye! Expect an octopus or two to make an appearance soon). Instead I’ll type up a review of a movie I’ve seen recently, a Korean flick called ‘Lady Vengeance’, about a hot-tempered woman (ha, how’s that for a segue? My brain, sadly, is quite baked).

Elijah, the guy I’m seeing (again, for those of you just tuning into bad metaphor, no real names are used on this blog), and I were standing around in the video section of a grocery store when this film caught our attention. Apparently it’s part of a three-part series, including another movie Elijah had seen, called ‘Old Boy.’ He liked that movie, and knew of my fascination with vengeance (revenge tragedies especially!), so he picked it up on Netflix a few days after that.

‘Lady Vengeance’ features stunning cinematography. The opening sequence is like a glamour shot for violence: swirls of blood spilled in water curl into stark rosettes. We find out that Geum-ja, the titular Lady Vengeance, has just been released from prison - she had been sentenced for strangling a young boy to death. The crime shocked and titillated the nation because of the beauty of the offender; Geum-ja develops a following of obsessed individuals who are transfixed by the contrast between her innocent appearance and her latent violent tendencies. All this is a familiar story, of course, but the movie gets more interesting plot wise as Geum-ja begins to enact her 13-year plan for revenge.

Yeah, she may be missing a couple of fingers, but she’s got some bitchin’ red eyeshadow.

I expected the film to be like the opening shot, glorifying violence, which I tend not to enjoy so much on the screen (despite my affection for written revenge dramas). Yet the thing that struck me about this movie was how, despite how beautifully shot and gorgeous many of the scenes are, it managed to portray the final revenge as something rather ugly, awkward, and ultimately unsatisfying.

Spoilers in the next paragraph:

The ultimate revenge is decided by committee, ensconced in bureaucracy. Despite the intense anguish the parents of the murdered children experience (or maybe because of it), the parents have many doubts and second guesses about committing violence against the man who tortured and killed their children. The terrible rage they feel upon watching the videos of the last moments of their children, begins to dissipate when each parent stands in front of him, contemplating the murder. One of the women looks at him and says, “But you look so normal.” Afterwards, wherein they celebrate the deed by eating birthday cake, everyone involved seems listless and broken. What they have done hasn’t brought healing, or really much of anything. The discovery of snowfall jolts the people out of solemnity, back into banal, ordinary life, in which one has to worry about traffic and bedtimes. Like the symbolic tofu, the snow washes away sin, or perhaps buries it.

I’d definitely recommend this movie, and I’m curious to see others in the trilogy. There are many layers of complication that I’m not sure I’ve quite parsed through yet, and I saw it last week. That, in my mind, makes the difference between an excellent movie and a merely good one.

At a time when the studios generally seem to release punt movies, ones they are not really pushing for Oscar nominations or otherwise, we’ve been blessed with at least two exceptionally good films: Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth. I didn’t know much about either film going in, and I prefer it that way, though some others might want a bit of warning about the nature of the content. Pan’s Labyrinth is extremely violent, possibly the most violent film I’ve ever seen (though the effect might have been enhanced by the fact that I was not expecting it). Someone who is a wilting lily about such things, as I am, might find it very difficult to watch.

Pan’s Labyrinth is, as a give-away-nothing basic summary, a fairy tale set in a harsh backdrop of post-Civil War Spain, during Franco’s harsh military regime. Though not technically adhering to the principles of magical realism, I couldn’t help but draw comparisons in my mind between some of the images in the movie and passages of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Perhaps it’s the beautiful language, and the melding of brutality and beauty in the imagery. Another familiar element is the immense sorrow, more intense than any movie I’ve seen in recent times. The ending, without spoiling things too much, is very conflicted; it’s up to the viewer’s sense of optimism to determine whether or not the ending is a hopeful one.

The fantastical elements were wedded subtly, yet inextricably, with the bleak reality of the world. Not much is offered in the way of relief, comic or otherwise, which served the movie just fine in this instance - a cutesy, Dreamworks-esque cgi-sidekick would have been completely out of place in the movie. The monsters were absolutely terrifying; one creature (those who have seen this movie will know exactly who I’m talking about!) seemed as if it were summoned out of the subconscious fears of every child who ever lived in terror of falling asleep at night. And yet, the human monsters were much, much worse.

Another element I found intriguing about Pan’s Labyrinth is the strength of the women in the movie. Though the band of rebels consists of men, resistance in the movie seems to take on a feminine aspect, in the form of the two primary female characters: Ofelia, the child, and Mercedes, the kitchen maid. Ofelia resists by rejecting the norms of the world and retreating into fantasy, while Mercedes is able to aid the resistance through her role in the kitchen, the heart of the military complex. Women are neglected and overlooked in the chauvinistic military society, and the resisters use this to their advantage.

I highly recommend seeing this movie, but with a little warning: bring kleenex, and don’t plan on seeing it in the evening before you sleep. If you cannot avoid this, cleanse your soul with a little Cute Overload afterwards, and try not to imagine the sweet little puppies being bludgeoned to death