The Movies of Kim Ki-Duk

Scenario #1:
An eccentric 60 year old man realizes that he will not be able to keep the 16 year old girl he raised on his boat for 10 years. Right after the marital ceremony and while his -now- wife naps he launched an arrow towards the sky and drowned himself into the sea. Some time later the wife wakes up alone on the boat, surprisingly spreads her legs in preparation for having sex (with who?) and has orgasm after an arrow falls from the sky and strikes her between her thighs.... so eventually consuming her marriage (red blood spreading on her dress). (From: THE BOW)

Scenario #2:
A young eccentric guy finds the only solution left to reunite with his beloved who is unhappily married to an abusive man. He achieves a state of "lightness" that permits to trick the guards and escape his prison, but also to live "happily ever after" with his woman in her marital house by hiding behind (literally) her husband (from: 3-IRON)

This is how two (and almost all) movies of Korean director Kim, Ki-Duk conclude: Absurd -almost ridiculous- way-out to his helpless characters, a dream-like state that help them transcend the limitation of the real. Moments like these are almost solely present in a kim ki-duk movie. While those moments are not as elegant or spiritual as Tarkovsky's levitation states (Mirror, Solaris, Sacrifice...) they -in my opinion- work better since they're not directed towards aesthetics but to take the narrative to a different level.

From Tarkovsky's last movie



Kim Ki-Duk made an international reputation by the time he released his 9th work: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. It was one of the first movies of his that I'd seen. The cycles of life through a young boy raised by a monk.




Few particular things that are common in Kim's (his last name) movies:
1. They are centered around one or two characters.
2. His main characters are eccentric, isolated -or eliminated- from society
3. Movies has recurrent musical motifs (at times annoyingly cheesy) paired with each central character.
4. His movies climax usually towards the last third of the narrative by breaking the barrier of reality (at times he is criticized for his extremely eccentric fantasies)
5. His narrative almost lack dialogues (like in the movie showed above, but in the scenario#1 presented The Bow, scenario#2: 3-iron.... etc)
6. They are unpopular in Korea (breaking social taboos maybe) but appreciated in western Europe, to the point when Kim decided not to release his movies in Korea (interestingly enough, a decision that made his work popular among young Koreans).


Kim's characters are usually "loners", placed (or place themselves) in unusual conditions. They are not the victims of some cruel destiny but choose an unorthodox path for their lives:

. 3-Iron -one of his best works- is about a young man who uses a smart way to break into houses: placing flyers on front doors and checking them in few days he recognizes empty houses but instead of stealing, or attacking..... etc he just lives there, he fixes the house, clean dishes, laundry.... etc he is a "good" person but living in a socially unacceptable manner.



. Samaritan Girls, two "innocent" teen girls decided to prostitute in order to save money for a vacation in Europe



. The Isle, a mute -again eccentric- young girl lives on one of many fishing isles and provide fishermen with their needs



. The Bow, an old man raises a girl he found for more than 10 years waiting to marry her when she reaches the age of 17. They live alone on an old isolated boat. His bow is his weapon against intruders, it's also his musical instrument and his fortune teller. The two main characters (the old man and the young girl) do not have any heard dialogue during the whole movie.



Kim ki-Duk is not a director at the level of contemporary European masters like Angelopoulos, Tarr, Ceylan.. but he is definitely one of the most interesting Asian directors currently. He is better than Kar Wai and Zhang or Europeans like Almodovar, Ozone, Breillat, Haneke... given the facts that he is 1) consistent and 2) UNIQUE: his movies have his signature style in cinematography (simple editing, long shots, landscapes), narrative (crossing the reality boundaries) character (rare dialogues...) and pace (slow). Unlike those mentioned he doesn't have a bad movie, it's almost impossible not to identify his work after watching one of his movies. I can't say that he made masterpieces but movies like 3-Iron, Summer...., The Isle are all very good and definitely worth checking.