피에타 (Pieta) (2012)

Director: Kim Ki-duk
Writer:    Kim Ki-duk
Cast:       Min-soo Jo, Jung-Jin Lee, Ki-Hong Woo
Language: Korean

A loan shark is forced to reconsider his violent lifestyle after the arrival of a mysterious woman claiming to be his lost mother.

The title refers to the Italian Pieta (Pity) referring to depictions of the Virgin Mary cradling the corpse of Jesus. When I saw the film I was not aware about the poster showing something similar and didn't get the Christian references while watching the film apart from a big cross that is shown in some of the initial scenes. South Korea has a growing Christian population and the pope also visited the country recently. When you have this overt christian symbology coupled with showing an incestual kind of relationship, you will definitely attract controversy which it did. But to be honest this film is quite tame compared to most other Kim Ki-duk films when you compare the level of violence and shock factor. The story is also much more straight forward and quite cliched when you look at it in the macro sense.

I was reminded of Oldboy when I watched it and revenge is a theme that is quite specialized by Korean films. It is kind of a reverse take on Oldboy's plot-line with almost everything being the complete opposite. I was not that impressed by the film till about the last 20 minutes since it just seemed to be a very ordinary film with nothing hidden from the audience even as the main protagonist is kept in the dark.  It is just another tale of revenge and redemption with the industrialization and consumerism of South Korea as the backdrop for general unhappiness. The last twenty minutes of the film is quite affecting with us genuinely rooting for the protagonist which is quite an achievement for the director. Kim Ki-duk specializes in these kind of films where despite the violence and questionable deeds done by the characters we care deeply for them. 

I don't consider many of the Kim Ki-duk films in the great category but he is consistent when it comes to making odd little films that are very watchable even though you are forced to look away  by the things that he depicts on screen. This is a good entry point for those who haven't seen any of his films because the story is quite mainstream but still it carries many of the Kim ki-duk's trademarks. For those who are familiar with his work it is not that impressive just because of the above stated reason. It won the Golden Lion at Venice and it was the first Korean film to win top prize at one of the three major international film festivals-Venice, Cannes and Berlin.

Rating: 3/5

Moebius (2013)

Director: Kim Ki-duk
Writer:    Kim Ki-duk
Cast:       Jae-hyeon Jo, Eun-woo Lee, Young-ju Seo
Language: Korean?

The film centers around a family consisting of a father, mother, their son and the father's much younger mistress. The mother and son finds about the father's infidelity. The psychotic mother tries to cut off her husband's penis but when foiled she proceeds to cut her son's dick off. She leaves them and the father feeling guilty and solidarity towards his son, surgically removes his penis. The film then follows them experimenting with their situation as it kind of become a menage-a-quatre. To nobody's surprise you have to bring the Freudian influence and call it a drama dealing with Freudian castration anxiety and the phallic stage of development with a dose of Oedipus complex.

Its been a while since I have seen a Kim Ki-duk film. Moebius along with Pieta has been sitting in my hard disk for a while and I didn't get around to watching them since I was not sure about the subtitle. Turns out that it didn't need a subtitle because the film is entirely unspoken and I think there is not even a background score. I saw an article today in Dailybeast describing it as the most fucked up film of the year and that is all the trigger I needed to finally end up watching it. It certainly lived up to the expectations.

Generally Kim Ki-duk films are disturbing but great one-time watches. All of them have sequences that are very difficult to watch but Moebius takes it to a different level because the film is full of them. Despite this, like most of the other Kim Ki-dum films, it is an extremely black- black comedy. You can't help but laugh at some of the turns that the story takes even as Kim Ki-duk answers the questions one might have about this situation regarding urination, ejaculation etc one by one. I don't know how scientific and accurate his portrayal is but it certainly is interesting enough. I didn't realize that Eun-woo Lee herself played the roles of both the wife and the mistress. She certainly looked very different. Noticed one scene which certainly was a homage to 3-Iron.

It is certainly not recommended for faint-hearted people. But if you are fan of Kim Ki-duk then it is certainly worth checking out. The fact that there are no dialogs make it even more powerful. Kim Ki-duk was in Kerala last year for the Kerala film festival. Wonder whether this was screened in it. Probably not because it was even banned initially in South Korea but later the censor board gave it the go ahead.

Rating: 3.5/5

Samaria (Samaritan Girl) (2004)

Director:   Kim Ki-duk
Writer:      Kim Ki-duk
Language: Korean
2 school girls turn to prostitution to fund their trip to Europe. Yeo-Jin is the fixer while her best friend Jae-Young sleeps with the clients. During a police raid Jae-Young jumps from the window of a motel and dies. Yeo-Jin consumed by sadness and guilt decides to sleep with all the men Jae-Young had slept with and return the money to them. Her father who is a detective finds about it and starts following her from school. The film is about this chiefly and not about child prostitution in Korea. The events preceding this are shown in an over the top manner with respect to acting.

Rating: 4/5

Spring,summer,autumn,winter and spring (2003)

Director:  Kim Ki-Duk
Writer:     Kim Ki-Duk
Language:Korean
The entire film takes place in an isolated lake where an old monk lives in a floating temple. The monk has a boy with him whose growth to a wise monk is shown in the film by different phases of year as the different phases in his life.

The film's visuals are great and the meditative nature of the film occasionally  interrupted by some violent scenes gets rightly transcended into the audiences' mood. Its certainly more than a good film but I thinks its generally overrated by many.

Rating: 3.5/5