Revenge is once again the topic du jour here at Monsters At Play, as Park Chan-wook returns to Danger After Dark this year with Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, the culmination of his much-vaunted "trilogy of vengeance". Park has been dishing out cinematic vengeance for several years now and may finally have found his stride in this grueling film noir subgenre.

While widely praised as the new vanguard of Korean cinema, Park's films have never quite lived up to their billing as instant classics, at least in this publication's opinion. His first film, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, showcased tremendous potential for the young filmmaker but ultimately faltered due to intolerable comic violence that diluted a strong revenge tale.

Park continued his journey into the world of retribution with Oldboy, a visually stunning film that improved on the formula established in his freshman effort. Weighed down by a patchy narrative and labored climax, Oldboy entertained but failed to leave a lasting impact outside of a few memorable scenes, the stellar performance of lead Choi Min-Sik notwithstanding.

Those wondering if Park Chan-wook would ever break through into true cinematic super stardom needn't worry, as practice does indeed make perfect. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is undoubtedly Park's most complex and accomplished work to date, ironing out the wrinkles of his past endeavors to craft a wholly compelling work of cinema. To call it a masterpiece may be flirting with overstatement, but Lady Vengeance is clearly a much more refined work that genre film enthusiasts should enjoy.

Red-Eyed Woman

Geum-ja checks her makeup prior to executing her plan for revenge. (Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Film Society)

Told through a non-linear narrative that skillfully leaps backwards and forwards in time, Park's remarkable third film paints an intricate portrait of a kind-hearted woman named Geum-ja (Lee Yeong-Ae). Released after 13 years in prison for kidnapping and murdering a young boy named Won-mo, Geum-ja begins to enact her plan for revenge against the man who framed her, schoolteacher Mr. Baek (Oldboy's Choi Min-Sik).

The older Geum-ja, donning blood red eye shadow to harden her appearance, tracks down the daughter she lost prior to her imprisonment. The mother-daughter bond becomes an increasing focal point of the film as Geum-Ja and the English-speaking Jenny struggle to reestablish their relationship.

Flashbacks to her prison days reveal a much gentler woman who finds redemption through prayer and looking after her fellow inmates. All is not as it seems though, as Geum-ja — nicknamed the "Black Angel" — employs a number of devious tricks to eliminate those who stand in her way. Gaining a loyal following, she seeks out the women who can help her plan come to fruition. Thanks to the help of her fellow ex-cons — in the form of information and a homemade double-barreled pistol — Geum-ja is finally able to locate and kidnap Baek.

Where Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Oldboy centered around singular acts of revenge, Park expands the concept into a collective endeavor with Lady Vengeance. Not content to merely murder Baek herself, Geum-Ja decides to contact the bereaved families whose children have been murdered by the depraved teacher and offers them the chance to exact personalized revenge on the restrained Baek. This group dynamic helps weave a more complex emotional undertone into the film.

Mother and Daughter, Reunited

Geum-ja clutches her estranged daughter Jenny as she contemplates revenge against the man who took her away. (Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Film Society)

Park has clearly matured over the years, evidenced by a more delicate touch when dealing with his characters. Geum-ja simultaneously elicits feelings of revulsion and compassion for her misdeeds, forcing the audience to constantly reevaluate her motives. Lee Yeong-Ae's understated performance drives the film, while the supporting cast shine with their ambiguous views on morality and justice.

The director's approach to storytelling has also improved in his latest work. Less contrived than Oldboy and more subtle than Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Park's current film presents a complicated look at a troubled woman without upsetting the delicate balance between characterization and plot cohesion. Devoid of the plot twists that made Oldboy laughable at times, the film still manages to surprise with a few choice moments of dark comedy to lighten the mood ever so slightly.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, while not as graphically striking as Oldboy, is still a visually sumptuous treat that never fails to delight the eyeballs. Using a more restrained approach to color, Park's penultimate revenge film exhibits a slightly desaturated tone that differentiates it from its siblings while underscoring the films somewhat vague approach to morality. (Indeed, the director's original vision sees the film fading from full color to black-and-white as it progresses.)

A haunting and memorable musical score, composed principally of harpsichord and violin arrangements, perfectly complements the emotional fabric of the film and imparts a distinct air of class and sophistication.

From its arresting opening credits sequence to its emotional climax, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance shines with the style and substance that Park has flirted with for so many years. Never too convoluted or too obvious and never devolving into caricature, Park's denouement is an arresting work of accomplished cinema that shouldn't be missed.

Thumbs Up. The conclusion to Park Chan-wook's triptych of vengeance is a richly rewarding tale of a woman scorned.