Anssi Vartiainen Samaritan Girl is one of the earlier film by South Korean director Kim Ki-duk, who's known for his sexual themes and minimalistic use of dialogue. And this movie showcases that rather well, while also showcasing the fine balance between art and artsy that many of his movie straddle.Yeo-jin (Kwak Ji-min) and Jae-yeong (Han Yeo-reum) are two teenage girls wishing to travel to Europe. But they lack money to do that so they've decided to pimp Jae-yeong out as a prostitute, with Yeo-jin acting as the money handler and lookout. But then everything goes horribly wrong when the police busts in, causing Jae-yeong to leap from a window to her death. The rest of the movie is Yeo-jin coming to terms with her friend's death by offering herself to men, and her father, a policeman, learning about this and coming to terms with it through sheer violence.It is a skilfully crafted film, with lots of layers and themes only hinted at through subtext. I especially love the final third with Yeo- jin and her father facing each other and slowly trying to reach each other over a gap neither of them expected to ever face. Unfortunately I also think that the first third of the film is pretty weak. I don't really buy the friendship between Yeo-jin and Jae-yeong. They have a few good moments, but overall the film overplays the hinting aspect and doesn't give us enough material to work with.Overall I think it's a film worth seeing. Compared to other Ki-duk films, it lacks that certain spark, but it's still full of his signature touches and is certainly a movie you won't see every day.

FilmCriticLalitRao To say that Kim Ki Duk is a great director would be a major artistic blunder as well as an understatement which might put a veil on his talent.The best tribute that can be paid to the new master of South Korean cinema Kim Ki Duk is to say that he is one of the most informed directors working in the realm of contemporary world cinema.Just to give a few examples:whether it is mention of the paintings by Egon Schiele or the description about an ancient Indian prostitute called Vasumitra who lived during the time of Buddha.These are some of the details (may be minor to some people)whose inclusion happens under the proper care of Kim Ki Duk."Samaria" is about the scourge of teenage prostitution which is inflicting umpteen emotional wounds in the lives of Korean families. As this is a taboo topic the reaction of Korean audience has not been very favorable.Most of the positive reactions have come from western audiences who have a mature thinking as far as their handling is concerned.Although there is good acting by the two leading ladies,it is the role played by the cop father of one of them who grabs all the attention.Samaria is not a moral story but a tale of human responsibility. Its message is loud and clear : do not do to others what you do not wish to happen for yourself.

mattysid I have lived in Korea for the last four years and have been fortunate enough to experience many excellent movies. Of course this is highly debatable, and maybe bias on my behalf, but South Korea is producing not only some of the best movies in the world at the moment but some of the most provocative and thought provoking movies, of which Samaria is probably the prime example.In NaBeunNamJa (BadGuy) Kim Di Duk already dealt with prostitution, however talking to Korean people I think that Samaria is a better account of the true nature of Korean society and the Korean sex industry as a whole. It is because of this that I would like to address some misconceptions that people have of the movie from previous posts and reviews. I promise that I will review the movie later, if you bear with me.First of all, Korean directors are making their movies for the domestic market (which is the third biggest domestic market in the world after Hollywood and bollywood) and therefore tailor their movies to the culture and beliefs that prevail in the domestic market.Teenage prostitution is an unfortunate, but common, aspect of Korean society. In this movie the Director, Kim Di Duk, is only portraying what is the norm in Korean society. It is not uncommon, although I am unable to provide statistics, that many high school and university students and even middle school students, pay for or supplement their tuition fees through the sex industry; although this is not always in the form of prostitution, but sometimes just 'entertaining' men in 'salon' bars. It is a sad reflection of a society that the 'education fever' is so strong that young girls will resort too any means too pay for their education. In this respect Kim Di Duk has hit the nail on the head.A couple of reviewers mentioned the 'shower' / 'sauna' / 'bath-house' scene between the two girls. For those that mentioned it, there is nothing absolutely remotely sexual (or as one reviewer mentioned 'Lesbian') in these scenes whatsoever! Visiting 'bath houses in Korean is an everyday part of Korean life, even as a Westerner I often frequent these places. It is considered normal for women to wash other women and also the same for men. Relationships between the sexes here is different, but refreshing, it is not uncommon to see people of the same sex walking down the street together holding hands or with their arm around another. It takes a while to get used to but once you get used to the nature of the touchy feely nature of Korean people it don't half help you get over any latent homophobic feelings you have! Anyhow, on to movie...I had heard a lot about this movie, the only Kim Di Duk movie I had seen before this was BadGuy, which I thought was OK, but a bit clichéd.This movie blew my mind. However the first part of the movie, the relationship between the two girls, although fairly accurate in terms of Korean society didn't grab me as much as the 'second act' of the movie.Previous reviews, have given enough details on the plot of the movie which I am not going to re-hash, however there is one scene in this movie that in my own humble opinion has to be one of the most incredible pieces of film making and script writing that I have ever seen on celluloid.PLEASE DON'T CONTINUE TO READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE. Because I think this scene should be seen in it's bleak and raw frankness that the director intended.For those that have seen this movie, I am talking about the scene where the father goes to the apartment of the man who is having sex with his daughter and confronts the man in front of his family. What is most shocking about this scene is that the man's daughter is older than the father's daughter.Never in all the movies have I seen a scene so heart breaking, thought provoking and shocking and so well filmed than this. For anyone still reading who hasn't seen this movie I will omit how this scene finishes... still sends shivers down my spine now writing about it! Well sorry to rant! Please watch this movie, and take into mind what I said about Korean society. For those who don't know Korean cinema, also please check out Chingoo (Friend) YupGiJeogInGeoNya(My sassy girl), Memories of Murder, NaBeunNamJa (BadGuy),TaeGeukki ... etc. etc.

slake09 A film about two teenage girls trying to make money for a trip through prostitution. Nice premise, but it eventually gets lost and turns into a father revenges daughter's lost honor flick. You have to wonder - she was selling herself, what honor did he think he was revenging? Maybe it's a culture thing.In any case, it's well filmed and keeps you watching, avoiding the pretentiousness that ruins many art-house movies. You can watch it without feeling that you have to sniff the cork next time you open a bottle of wine, and that's a plus.There is no real sex or violence shown (a shame) but it's implied and that gets the message across. What's obscure are the motivations, especially towards the end, where the film has been building towards a climax and then seems to just drop it in favor of imagery. Again, maybe it's a culture thing and I just missed the point.So I'm ambivalent about Samaria - on the one hand, I enjoyed watching it. On the other hand, I had to wonder what, exactly, was going on. Maybe that's a good thing.