MovieChat Forums > Oldeuboi (2003) Discussion > The tongue cutting ruined it

The tongue cutting ruined it

posted 8 years ago by wdement
5 replies | jump to latest

I loved every minute of this film right up to the very end, The hallway fight scene was one of the best I've ever seen, the plot unravels at a perfect pace, slowly uncovering the reason for Dae-su's inprisonment, and the plot twist was perfect, but what happened after the twist completely took me out of the movie. While I understand that he wants to hide his relationship with Mido from her and the film is dealing with themes of keeping your mouth shut, but cutting his tongue off was the most unrealistic and unnecessary action I've ever seen. Don't get me wrong, I'm open to a movie character cutting off their own tongue if it would actually make sense for them to do that, but here it felt like an unnecessary way to shove the movie's theme down our throats(no pun intended) it makes sense for him to beg for Mido to be safe, but tongue removal just made no sense and was very weird.

[–] therefdotcom 8 years ago

Of course, it made sense. It was his tongue that in the antagonists head started it all, so cutting it off was the ultimate surrender to him. also the tongue, in general, is a reoccurring theme within the film, just like the ants as a metaphor for loneliness and many many more.

[–] wdement 8 years ago

I understand that it's supposed to be symbolic, but a film always needs to maintain some amount of realism, especially when it comes to character motivations, and I just didn't think that, based how Dae su acted throughout the film, he would cut his tongue off,the bad guy had no leverage over him and Dae-su has been built up as a really defiant character that wouldn't just accept defeat, but would kill a weakling with a bad heart that ruined his life on the spot. I'm not saying it had no meaning or there was no sense to it, but that it was such an extreme action, that I didn't think belonged with that character, that it took me out of the movie and made me just think 'what the *beep*?'

[–] therefdotcom 8 years ago

well, the antagonist's motivation was unreasonable to the begin with.

what do you mean by "no leverage"? the antagonist was about to let Dae-Su's daughter know that her lover was also her father. he was in fact defeated. his only choice was to "convince" and the whole build up was all planned. he followed the path he had been given like a train on rails, there was no chance of "winning". he could have chosen the option he was given early on and let "things slide" and never find out, which would have also driven him insane.

furthermore, it was not about defeating daeh-su, it was about eventually let him go through the very same suffering that the antagonist had to go through. that's also why he killed himself afterwards. his work was done and it all worked out as he planned. ergo the smile. that's what it was all about. he could have just let him rot in that prison cell forever, he could have killed him and he could have also not have given him the "chance" of going away and never find out, but he wanted to make all of those decisions out of what he thought, was his own will.

i could go on and on. anyway, if you want to find something in the scenario of the film, it would most likely be the hypnosis part, but even that is not THAT far fetched, if you look for example at what Darren brown has archieved in that area.

before we take this any further, just out of curiosity, what's your take on the ending?

[–] fede_4488 8 years ago

OP's an idiot who missed the point of Dae-sun doing that. Usually happens when you try to overanalyze a scene.

[–] wdement 8 years ago

I fully understand the point, just disagree with the execution. I get that it was a symbolic gesture to tell the antagonist he would never "talk too much" again, but it didn't fit the character for him to do that. If it had been foreshadowed or presented in a way that was reasonable and relatable I would get it, I would even get it if he had committed suicide, but cutting his own tongue off removed me from the moment, and is what made me begin "analyzing" as you put it.