{Chinjeolhan geumjassi}
 --- Subtitled --- Tagline: Coming For You "The Best Revenge Thriller Since Kill Bill." -Bloody-Disgusting.com After being blackmailed and wrongly imprisoned for 13 years, a beautiful woman is finally set free. Now her brutally elaborate plan for vengeance against the true criminal can begin to unfold. Storyline: After thirteen and half years in prison for kidnapping and murdering the boy Park Won-mo, Geum-ja Lee is released and tries to fix her life. She finds a job in a bakery; she orders the manufacturing of a special weapon; she reunites with her daughter, who was adopted by an Australian family; and she plots revenge against the real killer of Won-mo, the English teacher Mr. Baek. With the support of former inmates from prison, Geum-ja seeks an unattained redemption with her vengeance. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Cast Notes: Credited cast:), Yeong-ae Lee (Geum-ja Lee), Min-sik Choi (Mr. Baek), Tony Barry (StepFather, Australian), Anne Cordiner (StepMother, Australian), Su-hee Go (Ma-nyeo), Hye-jeong Kang (Tv announcer), Bu-seon Kim (So-young Woo), Byeong-ok Kim (Preacher), Shi-hoo Kim (Geun-shik), Yea-young Kwon (Jenny), Dae-yeon Lee (Prison head), Seung-Shin Lee (Yi-jeong Park), Su-gyeong Lim (A prison officer), Il-woo Nam (Detective Choi), Dal-su Oh (Mr. Chang), Kwang-rok Oh (Se-hyun's Father), Mi-ran Ra (Oh, Su-hee), Seung-wan Ryoo (A passerby), Yeong-ju Seo (Kim, Yang-hee), Ha-kyun Shin (A hired assassin 2), Kang-ho Song (A hired assassin 1), Ji-tae Yu (A grown-up Won-mo), Jin-seo Yun (A prisoner). User Comment: Carl_Tait from New York, NY, 2 October 2005 • "Sympathy for Lady Vengeance" is a surprisingly poetic finale to Park's excellent Revenge Trilogy. The film fuses the relatively low-key style of "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" with the jet-black humor of "Oldboy," while adding welcome moments of poignancy and sentiment. The film is nowhere near as violent as its predecessors, although a good deal of mayhem takes place offscreen. Yeong-ae Lee is outstanding as the troubled protagonist Geum-ja, the ex-convict who is seeking redemption as much as revenge. Although the supporting actors -- including several from Park's earlier films -- are uniformly fine, Lee's performance is the heart of the film. "Lady Vengeance" is difficult to describe without revealing major plot points, as the most memorable scenes come at revelatory moments in the story. Suffice it to say that the climax blends tragedy and hilarity with a degree of success that few directors could hope to match. --- Bravo. Summary: Unexpected poetry and bleak hilarity. User Comment: autumnleaves87 from Singapore, 1 January 2006 • The final instalment of Park's Revenge Trilogy concluded well. In fact, I personally feel that it is the best out of the three film, excellent cinematography and beautiful classic music that blended perfectly well into the story. Lee Youngae gives fantastic performance in her role, a complete impression from her previous kind-hearted and sweet looking role in "Jewel in the Palace". Cold and filled with vengeance , yet she exudes fine elegance with her subtle body language and facial expression. The soundtrack works well at suitable moments, infusing classic into this art-house film. It was a pity the film didn't win any grand awards in the Venice Film Festival, Park definitely deserves recognition for his excellent works. Summary: A sinful opera. User Comment: DICK STEEL from Singapore, 21 October 2005 • I won't be surprised to see hordes of housewives watching Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, given the Korean drama penetration into Asian households, especially the wildly popular Jewel In The Palace starring the same lead actress Lee Youngae. Then again, given the theme on revenge, filled with its fair share of blood and gore, this new movie by Park Chanwook might appeal to just a select few. It's easy to draw comparisons with Hollywood's recent revenge movie, Quetin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Both stars hot actresses, both movies focus on the same theme, both have children playing an integral part of the protagonist's motivation, and both were essentially screwed by a male baddie. However, Sympathy plays up the stylistic factor, as well as little art-house nuances in delivering sweet revenge. Lee Youngae plays Lee Geumja, whom we see leaving prison after serving a sentence of 13 years for kidnap and murder. Or is it? Framed and blackmailed by her collaborators, she bears the brunt of the responsibility and blame, which sent her packing to jail. Naturally she swears vengeance upon the mastermind of the dastardly deeds, as hell as knoweth no fury like a woman who's really angry. Playing up biblical moments in the movie by symbolizing Geumja as a devil in angel's clothing (or vice versa, depending on how you want to look at it), the movie intersperses narrative moments with essential flashbacks to her life in prison. On one hand, she's the angel to newcomers who protects them from the bad prison cell mama-san, while on the other, she's the devil who's plotting murder on the sly. She gains respect from these inmates, who play important roles when Geum-ja is released, to exact her 13 year revenge plan. One of the best scenes in demonstrating this was the making of her twin-trigger handgun, translating poetic justice straight from the pages of a suture. The final showdown is different from Kill Bill's, without the monotonous monologue, and the imaginary Five Point Exploding Heart Palm technique. Here, it's brutal, it's violent, and somehow, satisfactory. Revenge is a dish best served cold, but only enjoyable when share with a group of like-minded diners, to classical Vivaldi music. The final 20 minutes of the show makes an interesting conversation and analytical piece, so I would not spoil anything here. While at times the movie does plod along, it depended heavily on Youngae to shoulder this film through its slower moments. I'm not sure why, but somehow through the many close-ups, I find she has aged quite a lot from her JSA days. Make no mistake, this film might not be for all to bear. Those who are expecting numerous gunfights and explosions will be disappointed, as Geumja does not roar and rampage like what Beatrix did. But when she finally does, in artistic style, all can be forgiven. Summary: A Nutshell Review: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. IMDb Rating (05/19/16): 7.7/10 from 52,516 users
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