Anssi Vartiainen The Isle is one of the few movies I've seen in a long time where silence is used to its full extent. It's a movie of very little music, very few lines of dialogue and even the ambient sound is that hollow echo of a lake where everything is muted and misty. And yet it works so well for the purposes of this particular story.Hee-jin (Jung Suh) is a mute young woman who runs and maintains a removed lake fishing resort where a fleet of floating cabins are rented for those wanting peace and quiet. Most of her usual customers are middle-aged men who are mostly interested in fishing, drinking and occasionally her body. Our story starts when a disquieted man (Yoosuk Kim) arrives at her resort, looking to hide from the world.The Isle is a movie of reflection. It's that lazy hour sitting on the porch, drinking coffee, staring at nothing, thinking nothing in particular. And thus, when things start to build up, it takes you a moment to shake off the cobwebs, allowing the movie to deliver some real gut punches. At its heart of hearts it's a thriller, but honestly I have rarely been as nauseated or scared by a horror movie than I was by this one.The Isle is a fantastic movie for someone looking for a quiet thriller that takes its time and trusts itself enough to allow for the suspense to build as slowly as it needs to build. The pacing is just perfect, the story ends just when it needs to and as a whole it's an experience. Highly recommended.

plsletitrain The film gives you that heavy, unexplainable, load after watching. There's not much child-friendly scenes going on, and that's what made me love this. There's cruelty and profanity everywhere, with the injection of, on its face, irrelevant scenes which were either intentionally placed to stir our brains, or were unintentionally left by a director who lacked ideas. I have to believe its the former.The Isle actually made me laugh, because the scenes were just so explicit, overt and straightforward that I can't help but be amazed at Kim's confidence. I honestly can't believe he had the guts to do all those stuff. He takes the risk to employ moral and social taboos in his films and that's what I like about him. He doesn't hold back just to please everyone.The story isn't messy, too. There's room for interpretations but the movie still gave away its own essence. Actually, if you were to summarize the story, you can do it in a sentence or two. What made the movie complex is Kim's approach. I think he failed on his approach in 3-iron but he was successful this time. Perhaps because he coursed through the more understandable route--hit what you wan't to say in your movie without lingering, but do it painfully straight to scar the viewer--that's what he did! I think any social and moral controversy you can think of can be found in this movie..rape, prostitution, poverty, animal cruelty, torture, lust, murder, name it. It's all here.I can totally understand how some scenes probably scared and scarred a lot of viewers. And I can totally understand how some might view him as a provocateur. I, on the other hand, believe otherwise. The movie might not be accommodating to those who have weak stomachs, but there lies the beauty of this film.The Isle won't bore you, because its either the explicit sex scenes will hold your attention, or the previous metal-eating, vomit-inducing, scene still consumes your thoughts. This for me, is a timeless masterpiece.

modmax "Seom" is definitely not a film for everybody but surely is a film that will not leave anyone untouched. It's calm and cruel at the same time. The movie is mostly known for its disturbing scenes: you can see, among the others, fishing hooks stuck into a man's throat or in a woman's vagina, or a fish partially eaten alive, but you can also admire some of the most poetic images ever filmed. The film is photographed in a beautiful way (Kim Ki-duk was a painter before being a director), some shots of the lake are stunning and anticipate the ones of "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring". The plot is about an apparently mute girl who works in a fishing resorts, she rents floating houses to fishermen, sell food and provides prostitutes for them, occasionally she sells her body too. A man arrives at the resort, he is a fugitive running from police. A strange bond starts between the man and the girl. After some suicide attempts and some murders the couple will leave the resort on a floating cabin. The narration is slow, but are the images and symbolism to be eloquent The film is superbly acted, especially by Jung Suh who carries on his role credibly without speaking a word. "Seom" is the movie that made me know Kim Ki-duk and I consider it a masterpiece.

siderite There isn't much I feel I can say about this movie. It is beautiful, yet boring; metaphoric, yet obvious; brutal, yet gentle. It combines many of the classic story lines in a weird and outworldy way.Basically, it is a movie about love, but the people involved are introverted tortured individuals. I believe that the title points to the way each character in the movie is an island of its own, a metaphor that is laid out in the physical world as rental floating cabins on a lake, and the girl that services this world is some sort of very dark mermaid.However, I feel that it goes too arty for my tastes. Between the occasional feelings of nausea, horror, pity and anxiety, there are long periods of boredom. I can hardly identify with most of the characters, as they belong to an underground world that I am not part of.Bottom line: a movie for Asian fans, for Kim Ki Duk fans, for movie art fans.