Seom (2000)

A Carer becomes the mother to a secluded isle.

Director:

Ki-duk Kim

Writer:

Ki-duk Kim

Stars:

Jung Suh, Yoosuk Kim, Sung-hee Park

5 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

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. One day she falls in love to Hyun-Shik, who is on the run for the police and rescues him with a fish hook, when he tries to commit suicide.

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Plot Keywords:

fishing | fish hook | police | mute | fish | 

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

22 April 2000 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

La isla

Filming Locations:

South Korea

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,546, 25 August 2002, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$21,075, 17 November 2002

Company Credits

Production Co:

Myung Film Company Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Alternate Versions

The British Board of Film Classification cut 1 minute 50 seconds containing animal cruelty forbidden under UK law including shots of a drowning bird and a live fish being partly mutilated for food and returned to the water. The UK cinema version runs 88 minutes 8 seconds. The DVD release re-edited some scenes though it is still missing 1 minute 44 secs of similar footage.

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Connections

Referenced in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)

User Reviews

Float Your Boat?

There are two immutable truths in matters of the heart. None more desirable than those who do not want you; none less desirable than those you could possess with ease. Somewhere between these two axioms fall the doomed lovers of this spellbinding offering. Beautiful Hee-Jin (Jung) is the grounds keeper for a dingy Korean fishing resort, selling snacks, bait, her tits 'n' ass, to the tourists she ferries between flotillas of fishing huts.

Fugitive Hyun-Shik (Yoo-Suk) shows up one day, shivering, suicidal, utterly alone. Another lost soul, Hee-Jin's smitten because, unlike her sleazy clientèle, Hyun-Shik's different. He doesn't abuse her or make fun of her muteness. And he fashions exquisite little wire sculptures for her, as they study one another across the rain-spattered lake. He in his unreachable desolation, she in her shore-side cabin, cat-like and inscrutable. The first time he tries to kill himself, by swallowing fishing hooks, she brings him back to life – to love – the only way she knows. From suicide to sex in three minutes. And nobody is going to get in her way. Director Kim Ki-duk, responsible for surprise Art-house hit Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter…and Spring, has crafted another beautiful-horrible movie; gorgeous to look at, and often between splayed fingers. It's as minimal and soulful as a haiku. And as painful as falling in love