Revisit The Bleak & Freaky World Of Park Chan-Wook At The Ritz
Image: Source: TMDB
Although his recently made No Other Choice is one of the best films of 2025, South Korean director Park Chan-wook has been one of our greatest living directors since the turn of the 21st century.
With 10 films made since the year 2000 that are practically all bangers, few filmmakers currently working have as impressive a hit rate as Park. That’s why it’s so exciting that The Ritz in Randwick is putting on a full retrospective of his filmography – titled Park Chan-wook: Sympathy for the Devil – in celebration of the soon-to-be released No Other Choice finally making its way to Australian theatres.
Kicking off with a preview of his latest films, the Ritz will be playing all of Park’s films across 10 days to give Sydneysiders the chance to see both verified classics like Oldboy and underseen bangers like Joint Security Area on the big screen.
Despite the profoundly disturbing subject matter that permeates through much of his work, there’s plenty of wry humour to be found in the world of Park’s films. Plus, as a filmmaker with a remarkable sense of visual style, his films beg to be seen on the big screen.
Listed below are some of the program’s highlights, and some personal recommendations for what you should try to see in this series.
Joint Security Area on 35mm, Saturday January 10th
Park’s first major film can probably be considered his most ‘normal’, but that doesn’t make it any less enthralling. A mystery thriller film starring some of South Korean cinema’s finest in early roles, Joint Security Area is a highly impactful investigation into how borders and ideology divides people.
Taking place after an incident in the DMZ between North and South Korea, Park’s film has a highly sophisticated and moving script that could only arise from the modern history of the Korean Peninsula. Starring Lee Byung-hun and Song Kang-ho (Parasite) in early roles, it’s a fantastic and criminally underseen film that I can only imagine will look gorgeous on a 35mm film print.
The Vengeance Trilogy, January 11th – 13th
A loose trilogy that explores its titular concept in vastly different ways, The Vengeance Trilogy is what initially brought Park acclaim outside of South Korea. The trilogy starts with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, an absurdly bleak investigation into the nature of violence, before moving onto the verifiably iconic Oldboy; this film’s impact on world cinema is impossible to measure.
However, Lady Vengeance is my personal favourite of this impromptu trilogy. In my opinion, it easily has the most interesting investigation into vengeance as a concept, and Lee Young-ae’s performance as Lee Geum-ja is sensational. If you’ve already seen Oldboy, this is one you should definitely make time for!
Thirst on 35mm, Thursday January 15th
Thirst is a decidedly unique and relentlessly horny vampire movie, once again starring Song Kang-ho as a priest-turned-vampire and falls in love with his childhood friend’s wife. It’s a bloody, freaky film with an impeccable sense of style – rarely ever has blood looked so visually striking on-screen.
Although many of Park’s films are quite horrific in tone, Thirst feels like the wild card of his filmography – a wild vampire movie with an obscene amount of armpit and feet licking that would make Tarantino blush. But it’s still got Park’s trademark exploration of human morality at its core, making it no less essential in his overall body of work.
The Handmaiden, Saturday January 17th
Telling the twisty story of a maid and conman looking to scam a Japanese heiress out of her fortune, The Handmaiden is an erotic thriller that sees Park Chan-wook firing on all cylinders. The film is stunningly made, with Park’s usual penchant for visual dynamism perhaps at its apex here, all utilised to tell a genuinely exciting and salacious story.
Packed to the brim with themes of sexuality, repression and the influence of pornography – many inherited from lesbian writer Sarah Waters’ 2002 book Fingersmith, which the film is based on – The Handmaiden is an absolutely phenomenal film that deserves to be seen on the big screen. If there’s one film from this program you should make the time to see, it’s this one.
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