Director Park Chan-wook's fifth feature-length film, Oldboy was released in November 2003. This film, part of the "Vengeance Trilogy" along with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, attracted 3.2 million viewers nationwide.

Director Park Chan-wook in Old Days, a documentary about the production of Oldboy.

What is interesting is that this film was invited to the Cannes Film Festival in competition in May the following year. It is very unusual for Cannes, which in principle only selects films that have been released for the first time in the world, to select a film released only six months earlier in competition. The jury with director Quentin Tarantino as the president at the time awarded Oldboy with the Grand Prix, which is the second most prestigious prize at Cannes. Since then, Park Chan-wook has been selected by Cannes in competition two more times: for Fingersmith this year and for Thirst, which won the Jury Prize in 2009.

The Cannes Film Festival focuses more on the artistic value of the film than its commercial success. Oldboy, which started out as a commercial film, was recognized for its artistry when Cannes selected the film. In addition, Park Chan-wook also established himself as a director successful both artistically and commercially at home and abroad.

Actor Choi Min-sik

During the 17th Jeonju International Film Festival, which ended last week, Old Days, a documentary about the behind-the-scenes story of the production of Oldboy was screened. In this documentary, the main actors and staff who were involved in the production of Oldboy recalled how the film was produced over a decade ago. The crew of Oldboy was young. Park Chan-wook and the star of the film, actor Choi Min-sik had just entered their forties, but the others including Jung Jung-hoon (photography), Ryu Seong-hui (art), Jo Sang-gyeong (costume), Yang Kil-young (martial arts), Song Jong-hui (makeup), and Im Seung-yong (producer) were all rookies in their early to mid thirties. At the time, they were undecided as to whether they should continue a career in film, not to mention have any experience as a main staff in Korean films. But after Oldboy, they established themselves as the main staff in their fields and contributed to improving the quality of Korean film.

Oldboy also discovered various actors. Kang Hye-jung was cast as Mi-do after putting in the effort to borrow a sashimi knife from a Japanese restaurant across from the place where she auditioned for the part. Oh Dal-soo, a stage actor, played a role with lines for the first time in this movie. Oh Kwang-rok, Yoon Jin-seo, An Yeon-seok, and Kim Byung-oc, who have now established themselves as major actors in today's Korean film, were able to show their existence in Oldboy.

Actor Yoo Ji-tae

Han Sun-hee, the director of Old Days said, "Currently, the Korean film industry puts weight on experience, so structurally it cannot accept the challenges of rookies in their early to mid thirties. Oldboy was a miracle of a movie created by over a hundred staff who came together with some strange energy."

Oldboy wasn't the only masterpiece in 2003. The weekly film magazine Cine21 selects the "Film of the Year" based on the votes cast by their subscribers that year, and in 2003, Oldboy ranked fifth on this list. Save the Green Planet, which is cited as the best debut film in Korea was selected as the “Film of the Year,” followed by Memories of Murder, Jealousy Is My Middle Name, and A Good Lawyer's Wife. Director Kim Jee-woon's A Tale of Two Sisters was also released at this time. Oldboy was not a masterpiece that stood out over the others; it was a film among a rich forest of Korean films.

Actress Kang Hye-jung

What happened in 2003? First, 2003 was a time when the progressive camp dominated the social, cultural hegemony as President Roh Moo-hyun succeeded President Kim Dae-jung. Artists could freely express their creativity without any concerns about government screening. The Korean film industry also entered the golden age. An industrial system that had strengthened during the 1990s came in harmony with the creativity of the artists.

Now such times have become the "old days." The actors and staff that appear in Old Days all said, "We couldn't do that again." Kang Hye-jung recalled, "We were all crazy." The power in Korean films has now moved from the producers and actors to the hands of large corporations with capital. Investors and distributors, which are the affiliates of major companies that own multiplex theaters, thoroughly monitor the films from the script, creating similar films. As the production cost of Korean films increases, they focus more on “popular” films that meet the taste of the majority mass instead of on creative ventures.

Film critic Oh Dong-jin said, "Oldboy was like the inflection point of a commercial art film. South Korea's film industry continues to turn out good directors and producers, but investors and distributors owned by large companies no longer guarantee their autonomy and are just creating ordinary movies abusing the rules of the genre."