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The Isle
2000 - South Korea - 89 min. - Feature, Color
| AKA |
Seom (Original Foreign title) |
| Genre/Type |
Drama, Erotic Drama, Psychological
Drama |
| Keywords |
prostitute/prostitution, fishing,
lake, obsession, relationship, woman, suicide-attempt |
| Themes |
Self-Destructive Romance |
| Tones |
Disturbing, Moody, Nocturnal, Sexy |
| Produced by |
CJ Entertainment / Myung Film |
Recalling both the erotic tension and the
surrealist imagery of Woman of the Dunes, Kim Ki-duk's film is set
near a remote lake where men come far and wide to fish on anchored
rafts. Running a little bait-and-tackle shop is the earthy -- almost
feral -- young lass Hee-jin (Seoh Jung), who sometimes sells herself
for a price to horny fishermen. On one raft is the morose youth
Hyun-shik (Kim Yu-seok), who Hee-jin has quietly taken a shine to
after saving him from a suicide attempt. His ham-fisted advances are
rejected, but after a second try at suicide, in which he puts
fishing hooks in his mouth, she nurses him back to health. Soon, a
freakily-intense relationship builds between the two in which the
jealous Hee-jin starts to brutally dispatch with any competition.
This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
Part of a recent wave of taboo-breaking
provocations from Asia -- Takashi Miike's Audition and Jang Sun-woo's
Lies were released around the same time -- Kim Ki-Duk's The Isle is
a gruesome, gorgeous yarn that locates its fabulous tale of love and
loneliness in a remote South Korean lake. The oasis, with its
mysterious floating shacks and spectral fog, proves to be an
indelible setting for Kim's taciturn psychodrama, not to mention a
spectacular subject for the director's camera. Kim's assured editing
builds a lulling, creepy rhythm, while the striking compositions and
colors provide eerie counterpoint to the queasy scenario. Ostensibly
centered around the perverse romance between mute Hee-jin (Suh Jung)
and the addled Hyun-shik (Kim Yu-seok), The Isle's raison d'etre is,
in fact, the bits of business that memorably punctuate Kim's
abstracted love story. Boasting graphic scenes of bodily functions
and self-mutilation, cynics can rightfully contend that the movie is
nothing more than a compendium of shock tactics. Perhaps its most
enduring image is that of Hyun-shik swallowing a handful of
fishhooks, which Hee-jin then uses to reel him back in from the
lake. A scandalous entry in the film festival circuit, where it
reportedly caused walkouts among the squeamish, The Isle is clearly
the work of a shameless provocateur, albeit an evidently gifted one.
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CAST |
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Kim Yu-seok |
Hyun-shik |
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Seoh Jung |
Hee-jin |
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PRODUCTION CREDITS |
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Kim Ki-Duk |
Director / Screenwriter |
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Lee Eun |
Producer |
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Lee Seung-cheol |
Sound/Sound Designer |
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