The latest film by Park Chan-wook, who marked 2000 with his commercial hit, Joint Security Area: JSA. This time, though, Park leaves all pop conventions behind and reveals his cinephiliac sensibility and pessimistic views to create an extraordinary piece. With a little push from his anarchist girlfriend, a poor working class man resorts to kidnapping his boss’ daughter when he cannot find surgery money for his sick sister. When the kidnapped girl dies from a fluke accident, the girl’s father sets out on a vengeful mission whereby he kills the kidnappers and is himself killed by the female kidnapper’s anarchist group members. At the time of its release, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance claimed popular attention with its unconventional attempts to dismantle the general notions of the working class - the capitalist - the Intellectual, along with its anti-sentimental, hard-boiled approach that called for extreme physical violence. Metallic images violating the body are overwhelming throughout the film, while raw sound and silence carefully suggest distance and contemplation rather than presenting wicked indulgence.