Samaritana

In "Samaria" a Korean girl takes the holy assignment of devoting herself voluntarily to the suitors of her dead school friend. Her father, a police man, finds it out and takes revenge at the men.

It is a film about charity, guilt, and the search for the right way, that gets near to the crassness of Kim's earlier work "Seom - The Isle" (2000) and "Bad Guy" (2001). The story is carried away by the director's typical big calm - a distance to the excitement, that is never cold and opens a breathtaking endearment even in the cruelest moments. "Samaria" is full of intensive scenes, a film you rather realize than understand: It hides its secrets and puts up a father-daughter-relationship-story under the shelter of metaphysical aspects. Great coherence flows out of every image, every tone. A film of godforsakeness and full of hope.

Masterpiece! Watch it!

This is undeniably a work of considerable formal rigor. Director Kim Ki-Duk uses deceptively simple but tellingly precise visual compositions to narrate his seemingly simple tale of loss of innocence, guilt and redemption. Initially everything seems transparent and self-evident in the story until intangible elements slowly seep into the structure causing ambiguity and bringing emotional turmoil that remains mostly subdued. The main plot premise, however, might seem a bit exaggerated or overblown to someone who cannot easily accept the depicted motivations for the actions of the two main characters (the girl and its father), especially considering the scarcity of social or psychological signifiers. Consequently, the movie works better on a symbolic than dramatic level, as its wonderfully concise final scene demonstrates. A must see.

This is my fourth film by Ki-Duk Kim (after Spring, Summer... / The Isle / 3-Iron), and he scores one minus (The Isle, despite stunning cinematography), one very good (Spring), and two absolutely magnificent. Despite the fact that I liked 3-Iron just a bit better because of the more straightforward story and consistent way of story telling, Samaria comes very close.

I'm not going to spoil things for you, but I'd just point out that this is yet another highly symbolic film, so much in fact, that this second (symbolic) level is probably more easily understood than the basic story. Not that it's complicated, it's just that story and meaning are not as closely interwoven as in 3-Iron, where the overlap between the two made possible an ambiguous reality that led to sublimation. Here, it takes a while for the two levels to touch.

The feeling following 3-Iron was that of reaching an asymptote - only the infinite was beyond. In Samaria, you feel like some serious stuff happened but what's done is done and the road lies open. We're at a starting point, which is not quite zero but feels like it. Well now, you can hardly call that a spoiler 'cause I hardly understand it myself. But you'll see what I mean after seeing it.

The story, which seems to start out as something different that what it turns out to be, must be one of the most poignant symbolic depictions of the point at which a parent has to let his/her kid go and realise he/she's not needed anymore - or not like before. Also, silence, without being as overwhelming as in 3-Iron, plays an important role. In 3-Iron, good stuff happened because of silence; here, a lot of not so good things happen because of it, but some good things can happen in spite of silence. The ending can be very sad or neutral or have the potential for hope, if you choose my story interpretation. But who am I?

What? Still reading this? - off you go to the video store. Chop chop!

Note: does anyone realise just how brilliant Kim Ki-Duk is when shooting indoor scenes?! Framing, camera movement, light - you name it - sheer perfection.

To say that Kim Ki Duk is a great director would be a major artistic blunder as well as an understatement which might put a veil on his talent.The best tribute that can be paid to the new master of South Korean cinema Kim Ki Duk is to say that he is one of the most informed directors working in the realm of contemporary world cinema.Just to give a few examples:whether it is mention of the paintings by Egon Schiele or the description about an ancient Indian prostitute called Vasumitra who lived during the time of Buddha.These are some of the details (may be minor to some people)whose inclusion happens under the proper care of Kim Ki Duk."Samaria" is about the scourge of teenage prostitution which is inflicting umpteen emotional wounds in the lives of Korean families. As this is a taboo topic the reaction of Korean audience has not been very favorable.Most of the positive reactions have come from western audiences who have a mature thinking as far as their handling is concerned.Although there is good acting by the two leading ladies,it is the role played by the cop father of one of them who grabs all the attention.Samaria is not a moral story but a tale of human responsibility. Its message is loud and clear : do not do to others what you do not wish to happen for yourself.

I had the chance of watching this movie at the Montreal World Film Festival. This is the third Korean movie I've seen ('Oasis' and 'Spring Summer...' being the other 2)and believe me, these guys know how to make good cinema.

This movie deals with juvenile prostitution and its consequences. How would you react if you found out that your 15 year old daughter prostitutes herself after school? This powerful movie has excellent acting and some great silent scenes, such as eating sushi at the grave and the driving lesson. The ending is of a great beauty.

Very good movie. 8/10