I am a big fan of Kim Ki-duk, ever since I watched Spring, summer... After that one, I just couldn't get enough. And now after 3-iron, Samaria, Address Unknown and finally The Isle, I can safely say, that the man is a genius.
The Isle is essentially, a story about two people. People that eventually fall in love and people that are both semi disturbed. The male protagonist is clearly hunted by the police, and the female (the caretaker of 'islands') is pretending that is mute, when many scenes in the movie indicate that she really is not. Now what makes The Isle special. It's the gritting harsh undertones that mellow down to nice loving drama. The contrast between extreme torture and love and empathy is just too great. Anyone that watched Ki-duk's movies before, knows that all share a common theme. Motto 'If you do something it will come back after you' is ever present in his movies. You cannot run away from any act you do. As in most of his movies, dialogs play a REALLY small part in this one. The whole movie contains maybe 40 sentences all in all. And the female protagonist never speaks.
Now all the warnings about extreme torture and 'it's too much for all to handle' are all just. The Isle sometimes just SCREAMS, as a piece itself. You feel the pain, the sadness the longing in each and every character, and sometimes the punishment they receive is just too much. But. The Isle is a movie that will not leave you untouched.
The Isle is a jewel of modern Asian cinema, for me almost the best. Maybe just a tad behind Kikujiro and The Dolls of Kitano, and before many others.
The Isle is essentially, a story about two people. People that eventually fall in love and people that are both semi disturbed. The male protagonist is clearly hunted by the police, and the female (the caretaker of 'islands') is pretending that is mute, when many scenes in the movie indicate that she really is not. Now what makes The Isle special. It's the gritting harsh undertones that mellow down to nice loving drama. The contrast between extreme torture and love and empathy is just too great. Anyone that watched Ki-duk's movies before, knows that all share a common theme. Motto 'If you do something it will come back after you' is ever present in his movies. You cannot run away from any act you do. As in most of his movies, dialogs play a REALLY small part in this one. The whole movie contains maybe 40 sentences all in all. And the female protagonist never speaks.
Now all the warnings about extreme torture and 'it's too much for all to handle' are all just. The Isle sometimes just SCREAMS, as a piece itself. You feel the pain, the sadness the longing in each and every character, and sometimes the punishment they receive is just too much. But. The Isle is a movie that will not leave you untouched.
The Isle is a jewel of modern Asian cinema, for me almost the best. Maybe just a tad behind Kikujiro and The Dolls of Kitano, and before many others.