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What a year for Park Chan-wook: discovered at Cannes, heralded as a Sophoclean Tarantino, then dismissed or debunked as a pulp poseur just as quickly as he had been embraced. Three films have been released during this span — Oldboy, precursor Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and now Sympathy for Lady Vengeance: the fact is, if you liked the first two and took them for what they were (which many refused to do) you can’t defend the director using his latest. A weak retread of his usual themes of retribution and atonement, the last installment of his “Revenge Trilogy” is a classic case of diminishing returns. Lee Yeong-ae stars as the title character, getting even with the demented teacher who set her up; Park’s visual and narrative pyrotechnics work temporarily but can’t redeem one of the most egregious pseudo-snuff sequences ever filmed. Park goes to the well once too often and ultimately comes up empty.
Opens April 28 at Angelika Film Center
Opens April 28 at Angelika Film Center
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