The second installment of Park Chanwook’s “Revenge Trilogy,” Oldboy opened for South Korean audiences in 2003. Based on the comic crafted by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi, the story follows the story of Oh Dae-su, a husband and father who has been mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years, as he seeks justice from his captors. Winning accolades from the Grand Bell Awards, Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards among others, the movie found support from the likes of numerous American independent filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino.
Film Factoid: In one memorable scene of the film, Oh Dae-su eats a live octopus. In shooting the scene, the actor Choi Min-sik actually ate four live octopi, a stunt that caused no end to controversy when the film screened outside of Korea.