Let’s be real, the secret masterpiece of Park Chan-Wook is better than Oldboy

ahsan65@gmail.comAugust 1, 2025

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Let’s be real, the secret masterpiece of Park Chan-Wook is better than Oldboy

The most famous film by Park Chan-Wook is probably OldboyBut its real Magnum opus is a completely different type of film. Park is one of the most eminent directors to get out of South Korea, with Parasite Director Bong Joon-Ho and moviegoers around the world came to admire his unique style.

The best movies of Park Chan-Wook offer a mixture of different genres. Oldboy is a striking revenge thriller, but that does not mean that Park sticks to action movies. In fact, his best work is a period romance that has a different aesthetic style from Oldboy, Although it is just as exciting and unpredictable in its own way.

The servant is Park Chan-Wook’s masterpiece

The 2016 romance is exciting and stimulating to the same extent

Although Oldboy is more popular, The servant is Park Chan-Wook’s real masterpiece. The story takes place in Korea in the 1930s, during the Japanese domination period, where a Korean was hired as a servant for a Japanese heiress living an isolated lifestyle. The real intentions of the bachelor are hidden, but it plans to remove the heiress from her fortune.

While Sook-Hee (Kim Tae-Ri) continues her plan with the delicious Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-Woo), she begins to develop feelings for the Izumi Hideko heiress (Kim Min-Hee). This is where The servant Develops in a sumptuous romance of the period of hidden desires and stolen looks.

The servant is painfully beautiful, both in its aesthetic style and in the specificities of its romance. Park makes a great use of the magnificent costumes and places of the film, ensuring that he calls on fans of period dramas even if he almost subverts each of the most popular conventions of the genre.

The beauty of The servant becomes a weapon while Park takes off more layers to reveal the grotesque heart beating in the center of the drama. The non -linear story is perfectly measured to offer maximum shock value because the idyllic frame is nothing more than an immaculate facade hiding an abusive nightmare.

The torsion in the servant is better than the famous torsion of Oldboy

The Handmaid is the best of its big twists and turns

OldboyThe emblematic turn is part of what makes him so difficult to forget, because he immediately launches history in a new light. The same can be said of the great revelation in The servant, But the difference is that Park places it in the middle of the film, so he has a lot of time to cope with the benefits.

Oldboy I have a remake in English in 2013, but the version of Spike Lee failed to win criticism. He has a rotten score of 39%.

Without giving too much, it must be said that The servantThe torsion is cleverly executed. Park reveals the whole extent of the truth in two parts, which mark the turning points at the end of the first two “parts“From the film. The part of the first part is immediately breathtaking, but the second part makes it better retrospect.

In a sinister game of changing allegiances and hidden truths, The characters of The servant Get a large part of their power of the quantity of themselves that they reveal to others. In the end, Hideko and Sook-Hee must learn to live for themselves, refusing to play by the rules of the Count Fujiwara.

The servantIntelligent torsion is linked to the feminist themes of the film. Hideko and Sook-Hee are systematically mistreated by men in various ways until full truth comes out. As soon as Count Fujiwara and Uncle Kouzuki lose their ability to control what women know, they lose their ability to control them.

How servants and oldboy compare each other

The two best park films are different revenge thrillers

Choi min-sik like Oh Dae-Su leaves after the famous corridor combat scene in Oldboy

On the surface, there does not seem to be much who connects Oldboy And The servant, Since The first is a modern action thriller and the second is a period romance. However, the two films are filled with twists and turns, and they share a lot of common DNA as unpredictable thrillers, although those with different approaches.

Oldboy And The servant Also share common themes of captivity and liberation. Hideko’s wish to escape his abusive uncle by all the necessary means, even death, echoes the quest for revenge of Oh Dae-Su Oldboy. The two main characters are traumatized by their kidnappers in different ways, and they both learn the nuances of freedom.

If someone prefers Oldboy Or The servant will probably come down to their specific tastes in films. Those looking for more action Oldboy, but The servant Could use those who want to watch a twisted and shocking psychological thriller.

The decision to leave also has a case for the best work of Park Chan-Wook

The mystery of 2022 also puts the status of Park as a master of twists and turns

Park hae and tang wei in the decision to leave

While Oldboy And The servant are probably the two main candidates for the best film in Park, its 2022 detective thriller Decision to leave should not be ignored either. This is another example of the way Park can build labyrian stories with shocking twists and turns that have a punch.

A comparison of the best movies of Park Chan-Wook
Movie	Rotten score tomatoes	Audience	IMDB score
Oldboy (2003)	82%	94%	8.3
The Handmaid (2016)	96%	91%	8.1
Decision to leave (2022)	94%	85%	7.3

Decision to leave begins like a neo-black detective thriller, but as The servantIt turns into something more unique and unpredictable. The strange hypnotic romance redefines the female fatal trope for a new era, leading to a finish which certainly ranks as one of the most moving of Park.

With Oldboy, the servant And Decision to leavePark has proven that he can apply his distinct style to a variety of genres of films, which makes them each fold to his will. While now has fans around the world while waiting for everything that comes after, The servant To this day, its most refined work remains and is always worth reviewing.