Sightlines · reception
How Oldboy was received
2003 · Park Chan-wook · Oldboy on Sightlines
The arc
It exploded out of Cannes 2004 with the Grand Prix — handed over by jury president Quentin Tarantino, who championed it loudly — and for a generation of Western viewers it was the gateway drug to Korean cinema; two decades, a 4K rerelease, and a post-Parasite reappraisal later, it's settled comfortably into the modern canon.
What’s debated
Fans still argue whether the infamous twist is devastating tragedy or pure shock value — and whether Oldboy is even the best film in Park's Vengeance Trilogy.
Its footprint
The single-take hallway hammer fight is one of the most imitated action scenes of the century — every side-scrolling corridor brawl since (Daredevil's hallway fight most famously) lives in its shadow — and the live-octopus scene remains shorthand for 'extreme cinema' itself.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd-era rite of passage: the 'you must have seen this' entry point to Korean cinema and a permanent fixture of best-of-the-2000s lists.
Did you know? Choi Min-sik, a practicing Buddhist, really ate live octopus on camera — multiple takes' worth — and reportedly said a prayer before each one; the celebrated corridor fight was captured in a single unbroken take after days of attempts.