Blocking a Sneak: OLDBOY

making clear who is where, and who knows it, in a sneaky scene

Spike Lee knows how to block a tense sequence, whether in city streets on a broiling summer day, or in a suburban living room as two people drink tea as a third person creeps in, unbeknownst to one of the others.

This scene from his remake of Oldboy is a good, simple example of keeping the audience appraised of everyone’s movements. We always know who is where, and who sees — and who just misses seeing — the intruder.

Watch, then we’ll step through each move, sighting, and near-miss.

Setup

We know the plan is for Mary (Elizabeth Olsen) to distract Edwina (Linda Emond), so Joe (Josh Brolin) can sneak into the house and access some old yearbooks.

In the preceding scenes, Edwina led Mary into the living room; now, they sit together on a couch, the doorway to the study framed between them.

Note the doorway not equidistant between them — Mary is nearly on top of the doorway, while Edwina is wholly backed by a wall.

In Edwina’s single closeup shot, she is wholly backed by the wall; remember this, it become relevant in a second.

First Incursion, Near Miss

As Mary and Edwina talk, Mary turns to get something from her bag, and Joe opens the kitchen door (photo 1). We see Joe’s actions by themselves for a moment, before Spike cuts back to the living room and we can see him in the background (photo 2).

While before we got a ‘single’ of Edwina framed with only the wall (the photo from above), now we get a wider frame: Edwina in context of the wall and the kitchen.

The focus, however, isn’t on Edwina, it’s on Joe; he may be small in frame, but because he’s in focus, and the only thing moving, our eyes are drawn to him.

We can also see Mary’s head in this shot. Why? To remind us where Mary is in relation to the kitchen, and — while not giving us Mary’s exact point of view — to demonstrate Mary can see Joe, and knows exactly where he is.

And THEN!

My favourite bit is this tiny moment. Edwina excuses herself to get the kettle, stands and turns with her body covering the place in frame where Joe is . . .

It is just believable that Joe manages to clear out of that space in the doorway before Edwina fully turns to see him. Because Edwina’s body blocks our view of that doorway space as she moves, we are completely unsure what is happening . . . until her lack of reaction convinces us she did not see him.

Target Acquired

Now Joe has moved into the study. Through a combination of the scene’s establishing wide show where we can see into the study, closeups of what Joe’s doing, and closeups of Mary nervously watching him, we know Mary is aware exactly where he is.

As Edwina re-enters the living room and sets down the tea tray, Mary turns to look over her shoulder, and we can see Joe has gotten out of her sight — and thus from all we know, also out of Edwina’s sight.

Then we go back into closer shots of Mary and Joe, putting us ‘in with’ each of them as they talk or flip through the yearbook, respectively.

As a last, lovely beat, the wide establisher shows Mary has scooted a little closer to Edwina on the couch, using the tea as an excuse to ‘cover’ some of the doorframe, hoping to obscure any movement from Edwina’s sight as much as possible.

Takeaways

A scene of two people talking while a third tip-toes into a nearby room can be as intense as a man fighting a dozen gangsters . . . and both are heavily reliant on split-second timing, blocking, and choreography.

Film Details & Further Reading

Oldboy (2013)
Director: Spike Lee
Cinematographer: Sean Bobbitt