Seom (2000)

Director:

Ki-duk Kim

Writer:

Ki-duk Kim (writer)

Release Date:

22 April 2000 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Mute Hee-Jin is working as a clerk in a fishing resort in the Korean wilderness; selling baits, food and occasionally her body to the fishing tourists...

Plot Keywords:

Fishing | Fish | Mute | Police | Investigation

Awards:

5 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jung Suh	...	Hee-Jin
Yoosuk Kim	...	Hyun-Shik
Sung-hee Park	...	Eun-A
Jae-hyeon Jo	...	Mang-Chee
Hang-Seon Jang	...	Middle-aged man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Yeo-jin Kim
Won Seo

Also Known As:

The Isle (International: English title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Japan:R-18 | Italy:VM18 (DVD) (self-applied) | Singapore:R21 | Finland:K-15/13 | France:-16 | Germany:16 | Hong Kong:III | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 (cut) | USA:Unrated | Ireland:18 (heavily cut) | Australia:MA

Company:

Myung Film Company Ltd.

I don't know what to think

The Isle is a hard film to evaluate. It pulls the viewer's emotions in every different conceivable direction, from empathy to outright horror and everything in between. After it ended I wasn't sure if I was going to cry or to throw up; I didn't know if I was sad or happy or hopelessly angry. Either way, the film's images will probably haunt me for many years to come.

The film is beautifully photographed, making excellent use of the isolated fishing lake setting. All of the actors are perfect, even in scenes more painfully grotesque than anything I've seen in a film before. I simply cannot imagine the artistic process that went on during production-- how did the filmmakers raise the money to make this film, and how did they direct the actors to create such convincing performances from such outlandish material? And whose idea was it to end it like that?

I loved many things about this film, but I find it hard to recommend because of a few scenes involving really heartless animal cruelty. A fish is mutilated and partially eaten while it's still alive; a dog is yanked around by its collar and slapped; another fish is jolted with electrodes. Of course the humans in the film suffer much worse misfortunes, but the characters mostly deserve what they get, whereas the animals do not. Also, the scenes of human violence are created using makeup effects, but the animals have no such luck-- as far as I can tell, they're really slicing flesh off a live fish and eating it.

All I can really say is, see The Isle and make up your own mind about it. It will cause completely different individual reactions in every single member of the audience, and if you love it, good for you. If you hate it, I think I can understand why.