The Ending: It turns out that the villainous Woo-jin has been manipulating protagonist Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) ever since releasing him from captivity, using numerous means to make him fall in love with young woman Mi-do, as unbeknownst to either of the lovers, they are actually father and daughter. Satisfied with his punishment of Dae-su for the previous role he played in causing his sister's suicide, Woo-join then shoots himself. Some time later, Dae-su visits the same hypnotist Woo-jin used to set the scheme up, who erases his memories of the incest. Dae-su then meets up with Mi-do, and the two embrace, but Dae-su's ambiguous expression suggests that he may still remember the truth. Why It's Awesome: Because of the wonderful, demented ambiguity of it all. Oldboy takes the notion of love and completely violates it in an utterly fascinating way: nobody can blame Dae-su for wanting to live in a blissfully ignorant state, but at the same time, dude... Also, Dae-su is denied the usual "hero" opportunity to get revenge on the bad guy: instead, Woo-jin robs him of it by taking his own life. Oldboy's certainly not for the faint of stomach (like a lot of entries on this list), but it put Chan-wook Park clear on the map as a thoughtfully f***ed up filmmaker.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
