Revenge (1989)

This is a strange film, indeed. Revenge opens with a prologue set in ancient Korea before flashing forward to the Korean peninsula in 1915 where the local schoolteacher kills the daughter of a landowner. Infuriated, he vows revenge on the teacher, following him across China, but is ultimately thwarted at the last minute. Desperate, he takes a concubine and gives birth to a son whose sole purpose will be to avenge his daughter. The first half of the film that took place in a Korea that appeared almost timeless came close to being something of a turn-off. It seemed that the director was trying too hard to evoke this feeling of a place outside of time, it bordered on ridiculous orientalism. But the second half, after the film moves forward to the post-WWII Soviet Union, made up for that. Revenge is a lush, surreal, and engrossing work. It is easy to make comparisons to directors like Tarkovsky when watching films like this, but Revenge is a different beast entirely. It is a cryptic tale, one that takes detours into unexplained territories. I am not even sure if there is a concise explanation for this movie, though I am sure the film scholars out there are busy scratching their heads and devising inane theories to explain it with. In the end this is one of those movies that just has to be watched for what it is. Ultimately, it is less about revenge and more about a longing for fulfillment.