Sympathy for Lady Vengeance - classic international movie

Movie Title: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (or Lady Vengeance)

Year: 2005

Writers: Jeong Seo-kyeong, Park Chan-wook

Lead Actors: Lee Young-ae, Choi Min-sik

Director: Park Chan-wook

Plot Summary: Beautifully shot and told in a non-linear fashion via a mixture of flashbacks and dialog, Lady Vengeance is the story of how protagonist Lee Geum-ja rights the wrongs in her world. The story (from the characters POV) begins with Lee Geum-ja's unfortunately involvement with the kidnapping and murder of a 5 year old boy, Won-mo. The antagonist Mr. Baek not only murdered that young boy but kidnapped Lee Geum-ja baby girl and threatened to kill her too if Lee Geum-ja didn't confess to Won-mo's murder. She did and serves 13 years in prison. Her daughter was adopted by a kind couple in Australia. In prison, Lee Geum-ja underwent an apparent spiritual transformation earning her the nickname "Kind-Hearted Geum-Ja." In fact, unknown to the prison authorities, she orchestrated n elaborate murder of the most aggressive (the "Witch") of the inmates in her cell-block. This earned her both respect and a debt from the victims of the Witch, a debt that, when she is eventually released, that includes gifts of food, shelter, and weapons. Now free, Geum-ja discovers that her teenage daughter, now estranged and called Jenny, was adopted by Australian parents. They exchange letters and Jenny agrees to a short visit to South Korea to bond with her biological mother. Lee Geum-ja discovers Mr. Baek is now a children's teacher at a children's preschool and has continued his string of child murders. Unknown to him, Mr Baek has married an ex-convict Geum-ja planted with him. Mr. Baek is afraid of Geum-ja and tries to have Geum-ja and Jenny kidnapped by associates. In the ensuing battle, Geum-ja kills both kidnappers (with an ornately beautiful double-barrelled pistol), while Mr. Baek is subdued by his wife. Lee Geum-ja is distressed by the murders Mr Baek has caused while she was in prison and searches for clues as to who the victims are. She discovered Mr Baek's cell phone is attached to a charm bracelet, which each charm represents a child he has killed. She uses that to track down the parents and relatives of the your children Mr Baek kidnapped, tortured and murdered. She gathers them all in an abandoned schoolhouse, where they all meet in a large classroom. The outraged group of parents and grandparents heatedly deliberates on Mr. Baek's fate, tied up in a room nearby. They decide as a group to take turns torturing Mr Baek, they decide what weapons to use based on how their own child died, and who would be allowed to kill him (a grandmother using a pair of school scissors from her grandson's classroom). The film ends with Lee Geum-ja giving her daughter a white cake and instructs her daughter to "live white" (a Korean symbol of purity). Jenny tastes the cake and says Geum-ja should live pure too. As the white snow falls around them, Geum-ja buries her face in the white cake, sobbing, while Jenny wraps her arms around her.

Why I Think This Is A Classic International Movie

This movie handles like no other the vengeance theme from the female perspective. It's also a great example of Park Chan-wook's brilliant use of visuals.

My Favorite Moment In The Movie

There are too many beautifully shot scenes to list! One of the most powerful scenes is the group scene with the relatives of the murdered children in the abandoned school house. The aggressive camera work and (stage) play-like setting is very affective.

My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie

Lee Geum-ja is feeding the Witch in the prison hospital. Lee Geum-ja wears a yellow prison uniforn, which is the mark of a prisoner with good behavior. The Witch BELCHES into Lee Geum-ja's face. Lee Geum-ja smiles sweetly.

WITCH
Sorry. Nasty, huh?

GEUM-JA
That's quite all right. I enjoy helping you.

WITCH
Thanks, Geum-ja. You are really kind-hearted. You understand that I only like plump girls, right?

GEUM-JA
Of course. I'll eat a lot and plump up for you. So, you just keep taking lots of food and medicine.

The Witch falls off her bed. Lee Geum-ja smiles sweetly.

GEUM-JA
Hurry up and die.

Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie

I hate to sound like a broken record, but the visuals are great. The beautifully lit scene where Lee Geum-ja chases down her kidnappers with the ornate double-barrelled pistol reminds us of the more famous "Kill Bill" (from 2003) without at all being derivative. The climax scene, with all the relatives in gloves and raincoats preparing to kill Mr Baek, is unlike anything in any vengeance movie I've ever seen.

Trivia: It is the last in Park Chan-wook's Vengeance series ("Sympathy for Mr Vengeance", "Oldboy", "Lady Vengeance"). Among several Asian film associations, the film was nominated for many awards (Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Lighting, Best Music, Best Editing, etc), and won Best Actress (Lee Young-ae), Best Film.

Trailer"


This post was originally published Oct 2016 in Scott Myers' great blog, Go Into The Story, https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/classic-international-movie-lady-vengeance-6aa4d50e5d8d

A counter-example to Chekov's gun?

Chekov's gun is a well-known rule of writing. As Chekov himself said,

"Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there."

Did Chekov follow his own rule?

No (at least, not literally).

In his 1887 "The Avenger" (available online here), Chekov's character Fyodor Fyodorovitch Sigaev spends quite some time in the gunsmith's shop considering buying a Smith&Wesson, before changing his mind and buying a net for holding dead quails. It's a funny story, and highly recommended, but no guns go off.

On a lighter note, Matt Nix (creator of Burn Notice, among other TV series), made this student film:

On Richard Belknap's book "Plots"

This post discusses some elements of Belknap's excellent book Plots. Plots arrange the cinematic/literary experience of the story.

Russian formalists, such as Propp, used the terms fabula and siuzhet for the plot. The way Belknap defines then the fabula arranges the events in the world the characters inhabit, while the siuzhet arranges the events in the world the audience encounters in the film/text. The following graphic comes from wikipedia's entry on fabula:

Another chapter of the book discusses incidents in the story. He explains how they can only be related to another chronologically, spatially, causually, associatively, or narratively. The TV series Upstairs Downstairs is an example of where a spatial organization was often used.

His book has lots of great insights. The following (which is the title of one of the chapters in the book) is especially nice:

I'm going to keep this short. If you like these short snippets from his book given here, check out the book at your local library.

Get Smart's "Ship of Spies", 4

This post discusses some of the slapstick humor in the Ship of Spies episodes of Get Smart.

In his Painfully Funny course, Prof. Richard Edwards said slapstick involves the following

• Slapstick involves exaggeration
  
• Slapstick is physical
  
• Slapstick is ritualistic
  
• Slapstick is make believe
  
• Slapstick is violent
  

Let's look at the humor of Get Smart with these in mind.

Max and Agent 44: From the first scene with Max and Agent 44, where Agent 44 slips and almost falls in the shark-infested waters:

SMART

Oh, one more thing, 44. Do you have any idea about suspects?

44

You mean someone who might have smuggled the plans for the nuclear amphibian battleship onboard?

SMART

Exactly.

44 pulls out a slip of paper.

44

I've been on the job, 86. I got a list right here of all possible suspects.

44 slips and almost falls, but Max grabs the paper.

SMART

Careful, 44! - that was a close one.

44

Yes.

SMART

You almost dropped the list.

At this stage, we know Agent 44 is perched outside ship.


Max and 99 and Agent Kevorkian: Max and 99 discover International Control Agent Sehokian nearly dead after an attack in his cabin:

SMART

We'd better get him a doctor.

SEHOKIAN

No time. Must talk before I before I - how do you say?

SMART

- die.

SEHOKIAN

Succumb. The man who did this who-- how do you say?

SMART

- stabbed you.

SEHOKIAN

- attacked me. He-- he knew I have uncovered - how do you say?

SMART

- information?

SEHOKIAN

- evidence.

99

But --

SEHOKIAN

Please, no buts. The plans, they are not plans. They are ...

Sehokian collapses.

99

Max, he's -

SMART

- dead.

SEHOKIAN

Deceased.

99 tries to rescue Max from drowning: First, 99 gets a rope to Max so he can pull himself out of the water to her porthole. 99 ties the other end of the rope to the cabin door for security. (Small plothole: in the scene above we see Max can climb throw the portholes, yet here he can't.)

Smart's face appears in the porthole - he's wet and exhausted, hanging onto the rope.

SMART

( panting )

Fast work, 99.

99

Max, can you get through the porthole?

SMART

I don't think so.

99

Can you hang on until I get some help?

SMART

Yes, but hurry up, 99.

99

Right, Max. Max, would you like an umbrella?

SMART

No, 99, forget the umbrella. Hurry up, get help. 

I can't hang on much longer.

99

Right, Max.

99 runs over to the door.

99

But Max, the door's locked.

SMART

Shoot it off!

99

Right.

99 shots the doorknob off, which causes the knob and the rope to fly out the port hole as Smart fall out of sight.

99 

Oh, Max.

The Chief fails in the water:

At the end of the episode, the Chief visits the Evening Star. Max and 99 show him the part of the railing where Max fell overboard. It seems sturdy until Max karate chops the railing away and the Chief falls in the water.

The Chief leans on the railing.

SMART

Watch it, Chief! That's where I went overboard.

CHIEF

Oh, really? It looks solid now. They must have fixed it up. This is where the bullets hit--

Smart karate chops the railing, it breaks. CRUNCH! The Chief yells as he falls overboard. SPLASH!

99

Chief!

They even fail to rescue him:

SMART

Here it comes, Chief!

Smart ties the other end of the rope around his waist.

99

Hold on, Chief. That's it. Here we go.

The Chief grabs the life-preserver and they haul him up.

SMART

Hang on, Chief! That's it, Chief. Just a little ways more.

CHIEF

Have you got a good grip, Max?

The Chief is almost at the main deck of the ship.

SMART

My hands are slipping, Chief. I've gotta wipe them off.

CHIEF

Go right ahead, Max.

Smart lets go of the rope. SPLASH! The Chief falls back into the water. The rope around Smart's waist pulls tight, pulling Smart overboard as well. SPLASH!

Get Smart's "Ship of Spies", 3

This post discusses some of the jokes in the Ship of Spies episodes from season 1 of Get Smart. The jokes below all come from part 1.

Joke: The Bartender brings Maxwell Smart a bowl of clear soup.

BARTENDER
Hey, Mack, here's your soup.

SMART
Hey, this isn't tomato soup.

The Bartender takes a catsup bottle and plops some into the soup bowl.

BARTENDER

Now it is.

This is an example of a redefinition/retitling joke. It's also an example of sarcasm/irony.

Joke: Having been shot just outside, an Old Sailor stumbles back into the bar, drops to the ground,
almost dead. He has a clue needed by Control. The Chief and Smart rush over to him.

CHIEF

Who did this? Can you tell us? Who stole the plans?

OLD SAILOR

Drink, please. Drink.

Smart runs over to a table and returns with a glass of milk.

SMART

Here you are, fella. Drink this milk.

OLD SAILOR

Is it regular or skim?

Smart sips it.

SMART

It's regular. Go ahead, drink it.

OLD SAILOR

Strict diet. Only drink skim.

The Old Man dies.

CHIEF

He's dead, Max. Do you know what this means?

SMART

Yes, Chief. Too much dieting can be a very dangerous thing.

This type of joke is Definition Through Obvious Exclusion.

Joke: Max is briefed by the Chief and Professor Parker on his upcoming trip about the Evening Star freighter.

CHIEF

Max, when you get beyond the three-mile limit, this case automatically falls under the jurisdiction of our international control section. You'll be contacted by an agent who'll give you further instructions.

SMART

How, Chief?

PROFESSOR PARKER

Possibly with this.

Professor Parker holds up a radio telephone very cleverly disguised as a revolver.

SMART

Oh, well, I certainly hope the message doesn't reach me.

This type of joke is Underplaying Damage With Understatements.

Joke: Max accidentally enters a passenger cabin that is not his own. The lights are out. As Max backs of the strange room, a gun points to his face from behind a door. Max grabs it with both hands and twists.

SMART
There's only one way to break this hold.

A second gun points to his face from behind a door.

SMART

That's the way.

I think this is an example of slap-stick, as it involves physical comedy. Max grabs the gun with a 2-handed motion, thinking his quick reflexes have subdued his opponent. In his mind, there is no way his opponent will get out of that hold. But the other hand has another gun. Instead of saying, " didn't even think of that", Max says "That's the way." It can also think of it as Definition Through Obvious Exclusion.

Parsing fountain files, 2

This is a continuation of my earlier post, Parsing fountain files. In this post, we show how to use Python to parse a fountain file into a latex file using John Pate's screenplay latex class.

First, we need this code:

def fountain2latex(input_fntn_file, name=""):
    """
    Assumes John Pate's screenplay template is loaded.

    INPUT:
       input_fntn_file could be "/home/wdj/my-script.fountain"
       name could be "draft-2016-08-26"

    OUTPUT:
       latex file of script

    EXAMPLE:

    """
    script_list = character_dialog_list(input_fntn_file)[1]
    dones = []
    output_latex_file = input_fntn_file[:-10]+"-"+name+".tex"
    r = open(output_latex_file,"w")
    char_list = character_list(input_fntn_file)
    f = open(input_fntn_file,'r')
    lines = f.readlines()
    N = len(lines)
    for j in range(6):
        x = lines[j]
 if x[:6] == "Title:":
     title = x[6:]
     dones.append(j)
 if x[:7] == "Author:":
     author = x[7:]
     dones.append(j)
 if "Draft date:" in x:
     script_list[j] = "date"
     dones.append(j)
 if "Contact:" in x:
     script_list[j] = "email"
     dones.append(j)
    # start latex header
    r.write("\\documentclass{screenplay}\n")
    #r.write("\\usepackage{article}\n")
    #r.write("\\makeatletter{}\n")
    #r.write("\\g@addto@macro\\quote\\flushleft\n")
    #r.write("\\makeatother\n")
    r.write("\\begin{document}\n")
    r.write("\\title{%s}\n"%title)
    r.write("\\author{%s}\n"%author)
    r.write("\\maketitle\n")
    r.write("\\newpage")
    r.write("\\vskip .2in\n")
    # finish latex header     
    for j in range(6,N):
        x = lines[j]
 if x[0]=="#":
     r.write("%"+x)
     dones.append(j)
 if x[:3].upper() == "INT" and ("DAY" in x or "day" in x):
            r.write("\intslug[day]{"+x[4:-4]+"}")
     dones.append(j)
 if x[:3].upper() == "INT" and ("NIGHT" in x or "night" in x):
            r.write("\intslug[night]{"+x[4:-6]+"}")
     dones.append(j)
 if x[:3].upper() == "EXT" and ("DAY" in x or "day" in x):
            r.write("\extslug[day]{"+x[4:-4]+"}")
     dones.append(j)
 if x[:3].upper() == "EXT" and ("NIGHT" in x or "night" in x):
            r.write("\extslug[night]{"+x[4:-6]+"}")
     dones.append(j)
        for c in char_list:
            if c in x and len(x)==len(c)+1:
         dones.append(j)
         r.write(" \n")
         r.write("\\begin{dialogue}{"+c+"}")
  for i in range(1,N):
      if j+i"#":
   r.write(lines[j+i])
   dones.append(j+i)
      else:
          break
  r.write("\\end{dialogue}")
  r.write(" \n")
 if x[0]==".":
            r.write("\\noindent \n"+x[1:].replace("#","\#")+"\n")
     dones.append(j)
 if not(j in dones):
            r.write(x+"\n")
    f.close()
    # start latex footer
    r.write("\end{document}\n")
    r.close()
    return "finished writing: %s"%output_latex_file

This will parse a large subset of fountain into LaTeX, using John Pate's template. For example, comments must be entered with a "#" at the beginning. Secondary slugs can't be used, "DAY" or "NIGHT" must be at the end of the line. There are other features lacking. None-the-less, Big Fish is rendered as latex which compiles almost without errors:-).

Works fine under linux, which is the main thing for me. I wrote this over the labor day weekend for fun and don't plan to improve it more, but if you have suggestions, I'm happy to hear them.

Get Smart's "Ship of Spies", 2

This is part 2 of a planned series of posts on the 2-part episode The Ship of Spies (Part 1, Part 2), written by Buck Henry and Leonard Stern. They won the Emmy award in June, 1967 for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy.

In this post, let's summarize the plot in The Ship of Spies, 2.

1. The previous episode ended with Max overboard. Agent 99 desperately tries to save him by firing a rope out of her window for Max to hang onto.
   
   
   It fails when the rope gives way.
   
2. But somehow Max is saved and the next day we see Max and 99 examining the railing by the main deck. It's in perfect condition, with no sign of the gunplay from the previous night.
   
   
3. With all the suspicious activity, they decide to call the Chief. For that, they brought a hair-dryer/short wave radio.
   
   
   It doesn't look suspicious when 99 uses it, but when Max needs to talk to the Chief, people notice.
   
   
   Soon after that, a mast crashes into their deck chair and they barely escape with their life.
   
4. Max decides to go to Capt. Groman's quarters to ask for his help. Max tells the Captain that somebody onboard his ship has stolen the plans for the nuclear amphibian battleship. The only clue he has is that the person makes a clip-clop sound.
   
   
   The Captain promises to listen for that sound. After Max leaves, it is revealed that the Captain wears a peg-leg which makes a clip-clop sound.
   
5. Back in his cabin, Max calls 99 on his pistol/phone.
   
   
   Both 99 and Max have some sort of message written on their cabin window.
   
   
   99 gets the idea that it's a code written by Agent 44. She deciphers it using the first letters of each word: "Up on deck now." They leave to meet Agent 44 up on deck, by Max cautions 99 "But I want you to leave your stateroom without being observed by anybody."
   
6. They have a hard time not being noticed. It seems everyone is leaving their cabin at the same time.
   
   
   Eventually, they sneak up the stairs.
   
7. Max and 99 meet Aget 99, who's hiding in a large ventilation inlet.
   
   
   He told them Hector Baccardo was in league with Senorita Merendez. 44 also said that the plans for the nuclear amphibian battleship were not plans, but then he was shot.
   
8. Max confronts Baccardo. Baccardo is not Portuguese and is not handicapped. His bulletproof saber-mounted wheelchair both protects him from Max's bullets but can be used to attack Max.
   
   
   However, Max disables him with a karate chop.
   
9. Max then rushes to Capt Groman's quarters asking to use his radio to call for help. "I must contact my headquarters. I believe I have found the man who stole the plans for the nuclear amphibian battleship!"
   
   
   Capt Groman says "Mr. Smart, I'll take you to the radio room myself." However, once he hobbles around the desk with a clip-clop sound, Max sees his peg leg for the first time. There's a fight and Max shoots and misses Capt Groman.
   
   
   However, he hits the ship-in-a-bottle model behind the captain, infuriating him.
   
10. Ming bursts in, dazing Max but getting shot in the cross-fire. Just as Capt Groman is about to kill Max with a peg-leg saber, 99 runs in and rescues him.
    
    
    Max concludes, "You know, it's a shame, 99. All this could have been avoided. If only he had only used his leg for good instead of evil."
    
11. 
    The episode ends with the Chief examining the railing where Max fell into the waterand they learn that Agent 44 will be okay.
    
    
    "It seems solid now." Max tests it with a karate chop.
    
    
    The Chief falls into the water.
    

This ends the plot summary for part 2 of the 2-part episode of Get Smart, The Ship of Spies.