{"id":1639,"date":"2011-04-26T15:26:06","date_gmt":"2011-04-26T14:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2016-08-28T06:56:33","modified_gmt":"2016-08-28T05:56:33","slug":"i-saw-the-devil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2011\/04\/26\/i-saw-the-devil\/","title":{"rendered":"I Saw the Devil"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
I Saw the Devil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nFormat:<\/B> Cinema

\nRelease date:<\/B> 29 April 2011

\nVenues:<\/B> tbc

\nDVD, Bluray + EST release:<\/B> 9 May 2011

\nDistributor:<\/B> Optimum Releasing

\nDirector:<\/B> Kim Jee-woon

\nWriter:<\/B> Park Hoon-jung

\nOriginal title:<\/B> Akmareul boatda<\/I>

\nCast:<\/B> Lee Byung-hun, Choi Min-sik, Jeon Gook-hwan

\nSouth Korea 2010

\n141 mins
\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When it comes to revenge, the punishment should not only fit the crime but it should re-enact it. William Wallace’s execution in Braveheart<\/I> (1995) is a re-enactment of the crimes of which he has been found guilty. He inspires internal rebellion, so his own intestines are ripped out; he wishes to separate the kingdom, then his limbs are racked; he disobeys the head of state, his own head must come off. This is a principle of the law as vengeance, on which public executions used to be based, and which in turn inspired a whole spate of Jacobean revenge dramas, most famously Hamlet<\/I>. In Kim Jee-Woon<\/A>‘s new film, I Saw the Devil<\/I>, vengeance is all, in a full-throated, blood-soaked revenge opera. <\/p>\n

The initial murder and the subsequent investigation occupy a slim part of the film and are slickly despatched. The pregnant fiancée of National Security agent Soo-hyun is captured, tortured and murdered by Kyung-chul (played by the Oldboy<\/I> himself, Choi Min-sik). Soo-hyun tracks him down with relative ease and, unhampered by the niceties of due process, sets about his revenge. It is here the film takes a genuinely perverse turn. Reckoning killing’s too good for this psycho, Soo-hyun sets about a game not so much of cat and mouse as rabid cat and rabid cat, torturing Kyung-chul only to release him so he can be hunted again. Soo-hyun goes about his task with a steely-eyed determination and grimly funny verve, which wins reluctant admiration from the serial killers he comes across even as it risks losing audience sympathy. But who cares about sympathy? This is a world of banal and ubiquitous evil, populated by school children, defenceless women (with one exception), ineptly woeful cops and predatory sadists of whom Kyung-chul seems like a charismatic leader. An old pal speaks of him as if he were a guru from the 60s: ‘We were going to turn the world upside down.’ The ordinariness of Kyung-chul is disconcerting. As in the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre<\/I><\/A> (1974), this is a banal evil. Kyung-chul has a disapproving father, an abandoned son and a day job (school bus driver, I know, I know). His victims are despatched with whatever comes to hand, a piece of pipe, a screwdriver, and souvenirs are kept in filing cabinets, rather than a Seven<\/I>-like shrine. <\/p>\n

Soo-hyun’s revenge is grimly witty, but the film, despite the extremity of the violence, never gets bogged down in torture porn. Soo-hyun’s main dilemma is not so much concerned with the morality of vengeance, but rather a technical question: how can the revenger truly replicate the crime to be avenged? How can the pain and fear of the innocent victim be inflicted on the guilty? Surely, if you care enough to want it, you’ve already lost. Soo-hyun’s solution is both blackly hilarious and tragically absurd. <\/p>\n

John Bleasdale<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Kim Ji-Woon’s new film, vengeance is all, in a full-throated, blood-soaked revenge opera.
\nReview by John Bleasdale<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,1,3],"tags":[19,1371,155],"class_list":["post-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-cinema-releases","category-dvds-and-blu-rays","tag-asian-cinema","tag-kim-jee-woon","tag-south-korean-cinema"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-qr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":533,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2009\/02\/01\/the-good-the-bad-the-weird\/","url_meta":{"origin":1639,"position":0},"title":"The Good, The Bad, The Weird","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"February 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Kim Ji-woon's insanely enjoyable 'oriental Western' The Good, The Bad, The Weird, in which three great Korean actors chase each other, fight each other, then chase and fight some more as they scramble after some kind of treasure map in 1930s Manchuria. Review by Mark Stafford","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Good the Bad the Weird","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/The-Good-the-Bad-the-Weird-594x339.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/The-Good-the-Bad-the-Weird-594x339.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/The-Good-the-Bad-the-Weird-594x339.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4415,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/05\/04\/sisters\/","url_meta":{"origin":1639,"position":1},"title":"Sisters","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"May 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Central to De Palma\u2019s films is the idea that the normal and the psychotic are symbiotic. Review by Nicola Woodham","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sisters","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Sisters-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Sisters-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Sisters-594x334.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3548,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2013\/09\/05\/pieta\/","url_meta":{"origin":1639,"position":2},"title":"Pieta","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"September 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Representing a true return to form for Kim Ki-duk, his latest film is a relentless, brutal and brilliant exploration of the human psyche. Review by Evrim Ersoy","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pieta","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Pieta-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Pieta-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Pieta-594x334.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":502,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/12\/01\/black-god-white-devil\/","url_meta":{"origin":1639,"position":3},"title":"BLACK GOD WHITE DEVIL","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"December 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Hailed repeatedly as the greatest Brazilian film of all time, Black God, White Devil is at the very least a truly remarkable work. Review by Pat Long","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2007\/02\/03\/satan-sheitan\/","url_meta":{"origin":1639,"position":4},"title":"SATAN (SHEITAN)","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"February 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Some cultural commentators will automatically applaud anything presented as 'youth' or 'street' for fear of looking like old farts. This has very much worked in the favour of Kourtrajme (French street slang for 'short film'), an urban collective of young film-makers, musicians and graphic designers, to which Kim Chapiron, director\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4773,"url":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/08\/08\/moebius\/","url_meta":{"origin":1639,"position":5},"title":"Moebius","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"August 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"An extreme Oedipal fable, Kim Ki-duk\u2019s latest is a compellingly deranged film made by a director who can still shock an audience. Review by Mark Player","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moebius","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/events\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Moebius-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/events\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Moebius-594x334.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/events\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Moebius-594x334.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6562,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions\/6562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}