Moebius

Have you ever watched a film that brings your endurance to explicit (even sick!) blood and sex violence to its very limit while at the same time makes you laugh and depicts with smart (yet explicit!) cleverness one of the basic essentials of Buddhism?... No, I'm not trying to bring opposite worlds together, but Kim Ki-Duk did, in his film Moebius.

A truly masterpiece of cinema in its pure essence, compelling and with an stunning economy of resources: few settings, few actors, even the two female roles are played by the same actress (Eun-woo Lee) in an outstanding performance. Moebius tells a story with deep metaphysical symbolism using just images (there is no dialogs) and focusing exclusively and with dazzling clarity on the points important for the story and its meaning, namely the search for physical pleasure concomitant to the nature of every human being, and the main protagonist of this: a part of the male anatomy known as "penis".

Only after the last scene, when the young protagonist bows before Buddha, one can understand the whole meaning of the film, every piece fits then perfectly in the puzzle (emotional puzzle, we are not talking about crime and mystery here). Then we understand that pleasure (the main, maybe the only important one: sexual pleasure) comes always at a price in this world; pleasure involves pain one way or another. Not once in the film pleasure brings any kind of satisfaction or happiness, instead it causes distress, sorrow, guilt, pain, immediate or in the long term; many of the scenes in the film show the attainment of pleasure directly through pain, and with more pain as a consequence.

CAVEAT - SPOILER IN THIS LAST PARAGRAPH

But then, in the end, the young protagonist frees himself from this tie, through the most direct way: castration (well, there are actually several of these throughout the film, so WARNING for sensitive viewers!), and later, bowing before Buddha, he does something he had not done even once during the film: he SMILES, as Buddha did. He is released now from human passions, no longer slave of his desires, no longer subject to the inescapable search for pleasure of the physical body. He is now FREE

Wow! What a jolt of caffeine was this! I guarantee you that you will see quite a few scenes in 'Moebius' that you will not see anywhere else. Boy, are these Korean filmmakers getting daring.

I'll try my best not to lay any spoilers in this brief review because that would ruin the joy of discovery for you. Suffice it to say, Hollywood or Bollywood would never touch a script like this with a ten foot pole. As a matter of fact, I didn't know what I was getting into when I acquired this film. I figured, well, it's Korean horror so I should probably prepare myself.

I'm glad I saw this film; it really made my day. It is a must see because of its originality. I'm not going to say what makes it so unique, but you can tell from the high ratings it's received on IMDb that it's worth the price of admission.

On a close look at this film, director Kim Ki Duk cannot be blamed for making a controversial fiction film about the taboo subject of 'Incest'. It is not the depiction of the social evil but the manner in which this topic is handled is strange. In the recent history of South Korean cinema, Moebius might be one of the few films where a South Korean family especially the parents are shown in an extremely bad light. The biggest problem about this film is that it does not have any dialogs. The actors are shown to perform their roles without uttering much. This has given rise to a lot of confusion as viewers might have hard time understanding the real motive of different characters. At a time when most joint families are collapsing due to irresponsible attitude of individual members, Moebius is surreal depiction of the total collapse of a family due to the neglect of the family by the male member. Kim Ki Duk's controversial film "Moebius" got a second lease of life when a ban on its showing in South Korea was lifted. There is hardly anything strange in this development as most of his films have failed to achieve popularity with domestic audiences in South Korea.Moebius is a good link to the chain of controversial films started by directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Louis Malle.

You have to love Asian cinema. It never holds back on any topic no matter how insane. Here we have an entire film about a father and son who are basically neutered by the woman of the household out of revenge for adultery. The rest of the film is about the agony of men dealing with life bereft of their penises, and how they try to get their penises back. Keep in mind this film has no dialog whatsoever which is not an unnatural as you might think, but it is still quite odd and seems a bit unbelievable at times. Perhaps there is some connection between speech, the word, and the penis? Yet it also creates a kind of emotional intensity that sets the film apart. Like Pieta, I wonder what the point is of all the perversity in this film. I suppose if you want to tie it into Freudian psychology, Greek tragedy etc that is one approach. Perhaps it is an absurdist tale about modern nonsense. Perhaps the black comedy satire this film is, somehow helps us come to terms with out repressions in the modern age not to mention our materialism, and hypocrisy. There is a repeating theme in Kim-Ki Duk's films of redemption through religion. The son who is castrated finds redemption in the Buddha. The son pays for the father's 'sins' at the hands of the mother. The mother corrupts her son further through incest to spite the father. In Pieta, the only character at peace with themselves is the one who gives up materialism and seeks the Buddha. I notice a pattern in the films of Kim-Di-Duk. The agent of justice is as 'bad' as those they punish for their transgressions. The ideal of a heroic moralist is lost in this Korean film. Instead everyone continues to fuel the fire of their own personal karmic retribution getting deeper and deeper, never really getting to the end, just deeper. Of course I may see this idea through the western lens of morality, while karma is more of an inherent, impersonal law of cause and effect, that no one controls. It is a force of nature really, assuming our interpretation of it is correct.

But enough theory. The acting is strong in this film. The story line is captivating. This film makes insightful points about human 'nature' such as the intermingling of pain and pleasure, or the amorality of the human animal. The extreme topic of this film may be a bit gratuitous and make you wonder what the point is though. The actors portray their pain and suffering in a believable, compelling way. The dark subject matter makes the film unapproachable by most though. I don't mean dark in some emo, Gothic poser fashion. It is harrowing watching the actors go though their pain. Perhaps that is the point of this film...to watch people suffer and feel sorry for them while being repulsed at the same time.

Most directors become less experimental or transgressive once they've made a name for themselves. Kim Ki-duk is one of the most notable exceptions. Being Korea's most notorious film maker isn't an easy accomplishment in the first place, given that no other country produces so many veritable authors of cinema. But being able to increase the radicality of one's cinematic language while maintaining the same themes is quite a feat indeed.

Kim's Golden Lion-winning previous work 'Pieta' was already almost silent; with 'Moebius' he has not only succeeded in making an entertaining silent film which isn't a reminiscence of a bygone era, but actually managed to push the limits of film as a medium a bit further ahead. The closest film which could compare is 'Themroc', not just because there's no dialog apart from lascivious or painful grunts, but because it almost seems to be a parody of that film's social critique: 'Moebius' quite on the contrary admits to its own silliness.

Many reviewers seem to take the symbols too seriously. The Buddha heads, knifes used for castration and masturbation and of course the body part which is the main plot device (as well as what the title may ironically refer to) - they may all mean something, but they certainly don't have to. There may be tons of allusions to Greek mythology, but it's entirely possible that this is just what you want - or do not want - to read into the film. If these metaphors were any clearer - then this would make 'Moebius' a lot less brilliant. I prefer to think that, as in many of Kim's previous films, it's the effect which is the meaning, and there's not much of a meaning hidden underneath the effect.

Which is why I think of 'Moebius' as one of this year's very few 'must-sees' - unless one suffers from castration anxiety.