Hwal - Der Bogen

I must confess I am a huge Kim Ki-Duk fan, and have loved every one of his films. In my opinion Ki-Duk has directed 4 absolute masterpieces of modern cinema, Bad Guy, 3 Iron, The Isle, and Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. Each of these films has gone some way to changing the shape, scope, style or accepted boundaries of modern cinema.

The Bow, however does not go to these lengths, but instead falls into the category of Ki-Duk's more eclectic and arguably more mainstream works like the Birdcage Inn or Samaria. This is by no means a bad thing as these are also great films in their own right.

Much like 3 Iron, the Bow has very little dialog, and much of the emotion is conveyed solely by glances, gestures or actions. This makes the film both more and less commercially acceptable to western audiences.

The Bow has re-confirmed Kim Ki-Duk as a modern cinematic maverick, an uncompromisingly original and visionary director.

Having seen (and absolutely loved) Kim Ki-Duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring this was a must-see at the Cleveland Int'l Film Festival this year.

Alas, it's just not magical enough.

I liked that the Old Man and the Young Girl never had dialog; it was the juxtaposition of the paying, fishing clientèle that was at odds with their relationship. As well, the use of the bow as a weapon was certainly effective, but the use of the bow as a badly-dubbed musical instrument was cheesy at best.

The plot was contrived, an ancient tale sent in contemporary times, uselessly introducing an anachronistic element into the plot line. The use of magical realism was spare and poorly timed, not being acceptable as a shift from the mostly concrete concerns and sensibilities of the rest of the movie.

This was a movie that got more and more disappointing as I watched it. The advice of more broadly-schooled Kim Ki-Duk fans would be good to follow: look for his "masterpieces", not this or other "more mainstream works".

Probably Kim Ki-Duk's second most pivotal work to date "Hwai" ("The Bow") tells a story of unconventional love - one full of obsession, unfulfilled dreams and poetry. An old fisherman (Seong-hwang Jeon) lives on a decrepit boat together with a coming of age girl, which he rescued from death at sea, when she was no more than 8 years old. She came to live with him on this boat, where her only contact with the outside world are hobbyists, who pay money to come to fish at sea. All that keeps them company are themselves and the delicate music of a bow instrument. After years of caring after the girl the old man has come to love her, but not in a fatherly way. His longing is to marry the beautiful orphan once she reaches the required age...

Kim Ki-Duk is capable of beautiful storytelling, as is to be confirmed by such works of brilliance as "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring". And "The Bow" comes extremely close to such exceptionality, albeit never finally overcomes it's own weaknesses. Nonetheless this is an extremely enjoyable and delightful movie, even though filled with unrealised passions and immoral egoism. Even though the script is extremely simple, even threadbare, it never lingers and keeps you enthralled throughout. Not only by the impressive cinematography, but also the subtle acting and storytelling complemented by a riveting score.

Nonetheless the issues with Kim Ki-Duk as a storyteller are quite apparent. The strength of his movie is in lyricism, romanticism and ideas that do not necessarily fit in well with the modern cynicism of today. As long as the poetry is silent the magic overwhelms you. But the moment Kim Ki-Duk's characters start talking the spell is broken, as everything becomes mundane and at times even corny. Thankfully for "The Bow" our two main protagonists do not utter a word throughout the whole movie, whilst outsiders come few and far between. This allows the director to keep his movie consistent in its poetry, something which he was unable to convey in more previous movies such as "Dream" or "Time", where poetry transforms into 'corniness' and the story sells itself short. Even in "The Bow" you have a couple of very awkward scenes, which didn't seem to fit and came out as forcibly placed into the movie (especially a rather awkward self-masturbation scene near the end of it all).

Nonetheless a required watch for anyone who likes a bit of Buddhist philosophy for dinner.

This story is about a fisherman who lives on a somewhat dilapidated fishing boat with his beautiful "grandaughter". The film pretty much takes place solely on the boat, they are never on dry land. The old man and the girl (they are never named and utter sounds but don't speak) have a special relationship, which you learn more about as the movie chugs along. The girl, who in the film is 16, is played by Yeo-reum Han who, when she smiles, is extremely beautiful. Its no wonder the few other characters, all men who pay to fish on the boat, are drawn to her. The film is good as a minimalist piece. That also means, of course, its also a little slow. I was somewhat intrigued, and the film is brave for being so focused in one place. As you see from the 7 rating, its not a great film. If you don't like minimalist films, do not watch this. I have never seen Yeo-reum Han in a film before, so I'll need to see her to see whether she is a very good actress. She is good here, as is the old man, played by Seong-hwang Jeon. You won't love it, but it will keep your interest.

Hwal is probably the best film I've ever seen in my life, in the sense of being the most beautiful and complete one. The camera and photography are superb, the acting is equally outstanding, the music is adorable and the story, even though it's a simple one, talks about the most important things in life - feelings, choices and destiny.

It goes deeper than the film's length though, if we care to try to understand a bit further than its rather clear metaphors and start wondering about its cultural roots - I may be mistaken here, but I believe that I could foresee some relation with this film itself and the I-Ching oracle that we can see painted on the ship's hull.

As an object of art, I gave 10 in 10 stars to Hwal because it fulfills what cinema is meant to be, well above the conventional, mainstream films that we are flooded with these days.