2000 ‘섬’ Directed by Kim Ki-duk
Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists. One day she falls in love with Hyun-Shik, who is on the run from the police, and rescues him with a fish hook when he tries to commit suicide.
l'île, Остров, Seom, Ada, Kim Ki-duks The Isle, Isle - Fruktans ö, L'île [Seom]
“Theme and idea are the most important facts of film production, I think.” – Director Kim Ki-Duk
This is a longer review than usual and it is full of SPOILERS from start to finish. I decided to include everything because not only am I analyzing The Isle I feel I am analyzing the most provocative themes and ideas of Kim Ki-Duk's best films at large; the review touches on the metaphors of his other works. I hadn't seen the film in years. I still think it's great but am sure now it is an ACQUIRED TASTE! It's the right film for you only if you love abstract symbolism and have a desire to be weirded out. It's a chilly allegorical…
A haunting tale about two damaged and very lost souls that find salvation in each others dark heart's!
An arthouse film that some will find strangely beautiful while others will find it obscenely vile! My response would be... both of those views could be used to describe life! In everything beauty and ugliness resides and this film is no different!
Muteness is an interesting decision to apply to a character, because it forces said character to contemplate (him)herself despite the notoriety of the surrounding circumstances and the natural poetry of the environment. This becomes all the more cathartic when present traumas, ghosts of the past and broken psychology identify the main character, and that is the case of Hee-Jin. With this piece, the South Korean auteur has evolved his graphic transgression into something more existentially meaningful: the nearly perfect balance between self-contemplation and external mutilation of the circumstances (literally), all in the name of loving and being loved, not without the consequences of irrationality. A predecessor of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring (2003), isolation is put in a context…
You Have 90 Minutes To Comply: The New Year Project
Presumably all the fish-hook jokes have been done by now, so let's take this review and fillet with something else. Oh ho!
Obviously, The Isle is memorable to most people for its more inventively gory scenes. And it will be to me too. But the reason I wanted to do this review tonight, despite a piercing headache and another cold, is because I wanted to talk about the other stuff here before it fades from my brain and I just remember the fish-hook stuff. There is a lot to comment on as well - The Isle is an extremely challenging and also desperately sad film.
There is beauty in melancholy…
7/10
Here's a fun game. Take somebody who's really into K-dramas, and tell them to watch this. Then, laugh as they start to get squeamish during "those scenes."
Acclaimed director and notorious sex pest Kim Ki-Duk has a knack for making transgressive films, and The Isle is no different. It's a romance between two unlikable psychos who deserve each other. Fans of Phantom Thread might like this.
The minimal dialogue and jump cuts give this film a unique feel as well.
Part of Lise and Jonnie’s What A Wonderful World: May 30 days, 30 countries.
South Korea
I cannot rate The Isle. I’m conflicted. I both loved it and hated it. This is my fourth Kim Ki-duk, and the previous three are among my favourite films. This is also the earliest of his filmography I’ve explored. I have a vague recollection of Adam Cook warning me about this one, but I may be wrong about that.
What I Loved
Kim’s cinematography. It’s beautiful, it’s mysterious, it haunting. The night, the morning mist, the rain. You can see the beginning of what would become Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall, and Spring.
Kim’s allusions. The islands of characters linked by Hee-Jin. Selfishness, loneliness, fear,…
Kim Ki-duk's haunting tale of love and isolation seeks and finds a balance between beauty and horror. The setting; a group of floating houses on a lake, forms the perfect location for the tale of two lonely people finding solace with one another. The film is rich with atmosphere and the director captures some truly mesmerising images. The story itself is constantly riveting as it's never clear as to where things are leading. The film doesn't shy away from horrific sights - there's some viscera involving fish hooks and some really abhorrent animal violence which may turn some people off. This is juxtaposed with serene beauty and desperation. The two leads are both great. Suh Jung in particular for her role as the mute girl at the centre of the tale. The Isle is all kinds of interesting, I look forward to checking out more from Kim Ki-duk!
One of the strangest films you'll ever see.
Repulsive in ways that weird you out, cryptic in ways that baffle your brain, it plays like a deranged collaboration between Lynch and von Trier, a work of shocking violence and surreal, zen-like imagery. Pairs disturbingly well with ANTICHRIST, which is to say self-mutilation is a hell of a drug, a savage allegory, a Darwinian metaphor for gendered dominance. Strong stomaches are needed to swallow whatever Kim is baiting here, as some viewers allegedly fainted or vomited during the 2000 Venice premiere. Personally, I don't think it's as nauseating as its reputation has led on, but it does emphasize some pretty bizarre acts of sadomasochism, leading many to wonder —what in the world…
With 2000's The Isle (original title: Seom) is the fifth film from eccentric director Ki-Duk Kim. With eccentric however, I don't necessarily mean the man himself, but mainly his filmography. Before The Isle I had only seen his 2004 effort 3-Iron (original title: Bin-Jip) which left me completely baffled. The highly minimalistic story, the lack of dialogue, the steady cinematography and the rather surrealistic style were like nothing I'd ever seen and it immediately gave me the perfect impression of his style. With The Isle I fortunately got much of the same.
As the film opens we are treated with a beautifully simplistic looking lake filled with a few small, floating fishing cottages. These cottages are the property of the…
Introducing the world to the wickedly disturbing yet thoughtful style of one of South Korea's most prolific & controversial filmmakers, The Isle is a deliriously dark story of love, obsession & salvation that follows two broken souls who find comfort in each other's company but is notorious for its grisly & graphic imagery of stomach-churning gore.
Written & directed by Kim Ki-duk (3-Iron, Pietà & Moebius), the film takes its time to set things up but an aura of mystery & hint of past trauma does loom over its main characters from the very beginning. Kim allows their relationship to develop at a natural pace and holds nothing back when portraying their emotional vulnerability or darker sides.
The serene & soothing ambience is aptly illustrated by the…
“The Isle” is a Korean arthouse film that features an unconventional love story, intriguing characters, a memorable setting, a serene atmosphere, stunning images, and several gruesome scenes. It´s strangely beautiful and definitely worth a watch, though it didn´t stay in my mind for long.
Part of the 30 countries festival. South Korea
Sometimes knowing a film's genre helps the audience to understand what it is seeing, expectations and all that. Other times it just adds to the confusion when expectations aren't met. And then you have films like this one that you can't categorize because it is all over the map.
The Isle has elements of horror, drama, crime and torture porn but it doesn't amount to any of these things really. Set in a quiet and serene lake, which Ki-duk Kim will use again in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring the film is beautiful too look at for the most part. Hee-Jin takes care of an unusual fishing lodge, where people rent…
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On a purely visual level, this is one of the most impressive films I've ever seen. Not necessarily in terms of cinematography, though there's nothing wrong with it in that regard, but mostly in terms of the location, and the way it's shot. That lake is gorgeous, and each little house boat is a great set on its own, but I could barely look at a single shot without thinking about how hard it should have been to shoot a movie on a lake. Even if there were sets involved, some of the shots Kim pulls off here are almost mind-boggling to consider.
While I still find the way Kim mixes the idyllic with the sadistic can put me at…
Maybe it's just me, but even though I found this weird, I also found this incredibly boring to the point where, eventually, you start losing interest in trying to make sense of this. Nothing more to say.
The weirdest and most peculiar “slasher” that you’ll ever watch. Dark, disturbing and never uninteresting. The meticulous composition for visual storytelling is a work of art in itself. Kim, who seemed to have control of his craft to the very last detail, was surely a master of this medium, and his genius approach to (much) unconventional romances is a truly remarkable feature.
Unfortunately, like a few other movies from the same director, a compelling story and beautifully made film loses me on the senseless and gratuitous violence and self-mutilation scenes. I'm not against pushing the boundaries but in this case just felt out of place and spoilt the movie for me.
Mr. Kim-Duk did one of the best movies set on a small isle, but it is not this one.
Eine der schönsten und zugleich verstörendsten "Romanzen" die ich in meinem Leben je gesehen haben. Absolut magische Bilder, eine von Ruhe geprägte Stimmung und völlig kaputte Situationen.
this film is so insufferable yet the setting is just incredibly soothing, just the way loneliness usually feels like I guess
hmmm definitely a style over substance case here, but I'm not disappointed. I don't get easily impressed when it comes to "gore" but there are some scenes here that caused me to stop eating. Also, I loooooooooved that 2000's vibe <3
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