There are 2 Korean directors in the namelist of the list of directors in the mind of Ding Tai Wei. They are: Park Chan Woo and Kim Ki Duk. Ying Xiang, my platoon mate in Tekong, once asked me how come i did not watched Park's Sympathy for Mr Vengence and Old Boy, while i had already catch Lee Young Ae's Sympathy for Lady Vengence with Choi Min Shik. Worst of all, how come i do not like Old Boy, since he finds it one of the best film ever watched.
Kim Ki Duk, on the other hand, was named Korea's David Lynch by the American and European critics, for Kim's fetish (is fetish the right word??) of throwing in sex in his films. While Park loves violence, Kim loves sex. Bad Guy, The Isle, 3-Iron, The Bow...and now, Time.
Kim's films is not your typical kind suitable for parents and kids family drama. You will never see a movie directed by Kim talking about a happy family facing some problems and how they solved the problem and happy together in the end. Kim's movie discuss weird and dark side of human beings. Bad Guy is a dream or fantasy of a single man who forces a woman into prostitution, Isle binds a mute girl and a coma police on-the-run through sexual fetish, 3 Iron explores a menage a trois between a newspaper deliveryman and a couple living in a house that he breaks into, and finds himself in love with the wife...
The Bow is the most bizzared movie Kim ever directed: about a 60 year old old man lives with a young girl in a fishing boat. He decides to marry her when the girl either 1) turns 16 or 2) her boobies fully developed. However, this girl falls in love with a guy few years older than her. Taught her with the skills of suing a bow and arrow to kill, the old man decided to kill the couple with a bow and arrow. Now, if you are going to put this in a moder day context, don't you think the 3 peole had made a pretty foolish decision in their life?? The old man seems to be the one that developes the most number of questions. Is there anyone who still defend themselves with a bow and arrow?? Any how to explain the large age gap between him and the girl??
Few hours ago, i catch the free screening of Kim's 13th movie, Shi Gan aka Time in Korean. Time explores another issue of human nature: beauty. Kim uses plastic surgery to discuss beauty and human nature. Here, we have Ha Jung Woo (a handsome looking Korean actor who looks like Robin, a friend of mine.) and Sung Huyn Ah (the leading actress in Lovers in Prague) playing Ji Woo and See Hee respectively. In fact, there are 2 actress playing See Hee, so please do not get yourself confused.
Ji Woo and See Hee are lovers being together for 2 years, but See Hee finds herself feeling guilty for not retaining her boyfriend because she feels that he is tired of her looks for 2 years. Thus, she took a drastic act that no one can ever imagined: she disappears after a quarrel and she goes for a plastic surgery. Bu going thru that nip/tuck, she hopes to retain the heart of Ji Woo.
6 months later, Ji Woo met a waitress in a cafe, who also names See Hee. Ji Woo, who still misses his previous See Hee, falls in love with the new See Hee he met in the cafe. But when the old See Hee returns with a letter and appears in the cafe with a mask of her old face on, Ji Woo thought that the new See Hee is playing a cruel joke on him. Sad to say, NO. That was the same old See Hee who spends her 2 years with Ji Woo. Apparently, her surgery doesn't seems to be successful. Thus, she puts on her mask so as not to frightened Ji Woo. But this is just the beginning of another tragedy: Ji Woo goes for a plastic surgery, despite having a very handsome looking face. The new See Hee was devastated when the surgeon showed her pictures of Ji Woo going thru the surgery.
Will not tell you the ending, for Kim will never give his audience a direct answer to the question. Pay attention to the twist at the end of the show.