Time

Kim Ki-Duk's latest movie deals with a story set in metropolitan environment. The main characters are fully aware of the speed with which the city breathes and the crowds of people that pass; they attempt to fight time, develop recognizable identities, yet still feel lost in the big place. These thoughts lead the woman character (played by Seong Hyeon-a) to a conclusion that the only way to keep her lover is to not tire the relationship; and for such it is necessary that she undergoes plastic surgery. Her lover doesn't know that; he's forced to live six months without any idea where she's gone to, if she's alive, whether she's dumped him or not and most importantly, if he should keep his heart open to her love and possibly hope for her comeback.

These are heartbreaking moments, but surprisingly the Czech audience took them rather easily; most repeatedly laughed at scenes which are funny, but at the same time raise important question and, for my taste, require much attention paid.

During the six months in which the woman's face is fixing up, the movie centers around her lover and the life he's attempting to live; at that time the movie is floating endlessly, introducing new characters (if I'm not mistaken, all played by the same great actress). It is entertaining but at the same time includes thoughts revolving around existence, recognition, individuality and similar. Eventually both ends meet, with funny yet consequent twist at the end.

Similarly to one of the author's previous movie, 3-Iron, the movie feels like a soft ballad; shots composed with a beautiful sense for color, reflections and composition, but also shaky-cam feeling whenever necessary. Although "Time" is set in a huge city, places are revisited again and memorized on photos, as are the characters. Unusually for Kim Ki-Duk, there is also lots of dialogue included; fortunately enough not only does that not wear out but it's often pretty entertaining.

Summed up, "Time" was a beautiful experience, a movie that completely carried me away. If you're planning on seeing it, do not underestimate the somewhat light appearance; it deals with very important issues, and it deals with them thoroughly. Pay attention and you'll be rewarded big time.

There is something startlingly relevant to this film. The ever increasing lack of identity in the modern world, and the rise of all sorts of abstract selves, from Internet IDs to Social Security numbers, has left our age with nothing but ever changing faces and dubious selves. The most corporeal and brutal example of this is cosmetic surgery. And, Kim Ki-Duk's haunting masterpiece speaks to both the obsession with a physical ideal, as well as the very ambiguous ideology of identity.

As a cynical and often apathetic moviegoer, this film entranced, bewildered and truly disconcerted me. Kim Ki-Duk is developing into an incredible filmmaker. The cinematography is delicately crisp, in a way that is very new and only really found in a handful of Asian movies from about the last 5 years. The dramatic elements are utterly profound, and the plot functions on many levels, (though not specifically allegorical) invoking and evoking issues ranging from history, the failure and ultimate relativism of communication, the absurd necessity for beauty, as well as a plethora of other parallels.

Anyhow, I find myself being verbose, but I just watched this movie and am terribly excited about it. Instead, the film itself is anything but convoluted, and though not exceedingly complex, is incredibly deep. Be patient, because it starts a little slowly, but erupts into something so strange and meaningful that I would recommend this film to anyone that enjoys Asian cinema or that likes to think.

I enjoyed this film. I think that reviewers who claim it had nothing more to say than "plastic surgery is bad" are really refusing to dig critically into the themes of the film. It is about identity; it is about jealousy and fear; it is about vanity. These aren't exactly "easy" themes, and while I do think that the insanity of the heroine do make it difficult to relate to at times, the film had a lot to say that is applicable to all of us.. not just jealous nuts. That being said, I definitely viewed the film as a fable (especially because of the last scene). In some ways it reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with this weird sense of starting with a clean slate.

The idea of not being able to recognize a past lover is extremely disturbing to me personally, and so I might have allowed myself to get taken in by this film more than some people would. Even so, I think that the film was executed very well and deserves high marks.

A poet said that there are 3 types of love: First for a REASON... You love someone for a reason(because she's beautiful,because she's special etc.) Second is to love AS... You love someone as good as she loves you,as much as you love your mum, etc. Third is to love DESPITE... Despite she's ugly, despite she's moody, despite she's lighthearted, etc. Then he added, to truly love someone is to accept her/his nature with pros and cons altogether.

In Kim Ki-duk's "Shi gan(Time)" the whole plot is based on a Korean couple who are at their mid-20s. Even though, they're getting prepared to marry, they don't realize that their relation is still relying on reasons. Like every fresh couple, since they don't express their needs and wishes to each other, their harmony goes downhill by time. Seh-Hee surprisingly leaves her lover without any warning or explanation due to her jealousy on him. She decides to have a plastic surgery to get a more beautiful face than she has. That way, when she comes back, she'll feel more comfortable for securing her love through her beauty. In other words, she leaves him for the shortfall of trust in their relationship. Right here at the character intro scenes(the first half-an-hour) there's a drastic message: You love someone for a reason, you'll lose her/him for another.

Kim Ki-duk has set his screenplay out for reflecting the social affinity of South Korean women to plastic surgery. Social statistics mark that South Korea is among the world's top 3 countries regarding this subject. Kim Ki-duk's cinema language carries a great focus on the main plot and he enriches this focus with use of Symbolism. Just like in a poet, each word and each act represents a deeper meaning more than itself. This creates a few memorable scenes: First in the public ferry-boat scene, second the scene with sculptures and figurines at the beach park, third the change of the tide on the beach when lovers are parted, finally before the closure most of the Seh-Hee's parts carry Symbolism in words:

1/"If we turn around and make eye contact, then we should meet again. One, two, three..."(means my eyes were at you when you were with other women, if you've ever been aware of that I'd never have left you)

2/"You should realize how happy you are, just do well on your part"(means you must be happy for being loved by me)

3/"Things happening suddenly, when something lost, it never comes back"(means love happens all of a sudden, when you're loved you're not aware of it; the moment you start to aware of someone's love, it vanishes away)

Instead of trying to express the feelings with words, Kim Ki-duk hides the true meanings away; which may also mean that he kept a secret between him and his characters against us. It's truly to see how deep a love can get with keeping it as a secret. This concept was very rare to come across. On the other hand, even though the main plot is unique, its sub-plot(plastic surgery) is not.

In cinema history, there are notable films within various genres featuring plastic surgery. Starting to count, let's look at the drama/romance genre first: In Elizabeth Taylor's popular drama movie "Ash Wednesday(1973)", Taylor's character tends to have plastic surgery for the same reason as Seh-Hee herein, to retain her lover's attention on her. From the recent years, Alejandro Amenabar's "Abre Los Ojos" and its Hollywood copycat "Vanilla Sky" tell the off-base story of a playboy's lose of his handsome face due to a traffic accident, and his captious dreams of regaining his face with plastic surgery. From the TV, 2005's Golden Globe winner TV-drama "Nip/Tuck" was taking its departure with two plastic surgeons of opposite personalities.

Plastic surgery was also memorable in Robert Zemeckis's "Death Becomes Her(1992)" where Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn were making up a fun out of this subject. Addictive to look younger, these aged ladies were competing with each other via having plastic surgeries until they explore a youth elixir. Another funny example of a plastic surgery comedy had been featuring in a scene in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil(1985)" where the leading character's mother wants to have plastic surgery without anaesthesia while she's wide-awake. Whereas in the horror genre, the plastic surgery has used very seriously. The cult filmmaker Jesus Franco's "Faceless(1987)" was a psychopathic crime story, in which a plastic surgeon kidnaps a beautiful model to stitch up her face into his sister's. Dated 1960 the British horror "Circus of Horrors" told another crime story of a plastic surgeon who takes his patients prisoner to work as models at a circus of horrors. Maybe the earliest example to a plastic surgery concept on the silverscreen was Humphrey Bogart's "Dark Passage(1947)". This was an unique crime/thriller movie, having Humphrey Bogart as a criminal's new face after the plastic surgery which made it easier for him to hide away from the police. In the other crime/thriller movies that used plastic surgery in its content, Michael Caine's "The Jigsaw Man" displayed a KGB agent who sent to Britain for misleading targets. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage's "Face Off" on the other hand, brought a fresh idea of shifting agents with each other by means of plastic surgery. Looking at a Turkish TV epic of crime genre "Kurtlar Vadisi" displayed a MIT spy becoming a Mafia boss after a successful plastic surgery altering into a new identity.

For now, the last sample of this plot is Shi gan, which is among the top ten most important movies of the decade through its unique cinema language. Shi gan develops a story from separation of lovers and connects it with plastic surgery, then climbs up the relationship ladder to become a cure for parted couples. It's a must-see for everyone who is seeking a good drama to watch.

Hope you have read the official story line.

I was intrigued by that and since we are all so used to so many of the Hollywood style movies and also because of the relatively low 7.2 rating here at IMDb I was expecting it to be a mediocre merry go round, boy was I wrong! This is a weird movie, and instead of putting us off it makes us think, think really hard. Very strangely, this movie, unlike other movies is always showing us a certain third party perspective (normally Hollywood tries to do just the opposite to make us empathize with the character), and its this that makes us 'think'.

And I came off thinking:

* Our lives are too good, and because its too good we do things to make it complicated, we basically imagine up things, and we ourselves create problems which we then try so hard to solve.

* Only if we had left things as it was.

* Aren't we being just plain greedy.

If you have liked movies like Tokyo Story, Still Walking, etc., yes please check out this movie.

Thank you for reading. :-).

Cheers!