Rating: 
Summary: The lady of the lake is mad
Review: THE ISLE takes place entirely on a remote lake outfitted with small floating cabins where folks can go to fish, screw or commit suicide. Oh, wait, that last one isn't in the brochure. Nevertheless, one man arrives with just that intention, though he has some difficulty following through with it. He catches the eye of the lake's proprietor, an obsessive woman who becomes insanely jealous when he spends time with one of the local prostitutes who seems genuinely interested in him.
Is the woman some kind of water spirit? What past secret is haunting the man? And why doesn't anyone who visits the lake know how to swim? (Which begs another question: Why are they there? Don't they have hotels in Korea?)
Jealousy and murder ensue. People start putting fish hooks where they were never intended to go. And numerous animals are tortured, mutilated, and killed in close detail for no discernible reason. For all this, the movie is painfully slow. THE ISLE is a cruel and disgusting yet boring film with no plot and where nothing anybody does makes any sense. Turn that motorboat around and speed away from this pointless fish story.
Rating: 
Summary: Just...wow
Review: There are already quite a few reviews detailing what makes this movie great, so I won't add too much here to elaborate and just give my voice to echo this movie's praise.
Kim ki-duk is one of a few excellent directors who's emerging from Korea recently (Chanwook Park being another, but unfortunately none of his movies are available here yet, probably because Hollywood is set on remaking them eventually). I've only seen one other of his movies, BAD GUY, which is a lot like THE ISLE in structure, story, and symbolism--and is equally as good. Both movies show a mastery over the beautiful, the poignant, and the slowburn.
Despite some people complaining the movie drags, I think each and every scene is so minimalistically poetic and vital that not a single frame is boring. What Kim can portray so simply, subtley, and beautifully, raises every second of this movie above your typical arthouse flick. From what I've seen, he's a director like no other. To so easily combine the grotesque, violent, bizarre, and heart-stoppingly beautiful so skillfully is rare (Miike comes to mind--but he's like Kim ki-duk with ADD).
Certainly someone to watch out for in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting to say the least...
Review: This was a very interesting film. I first saw it on the Sundance channel and decided to get it. First off its important to clarify that this film is NOT a porn. It is very surreal, and just altogether strange. The plot was interesting and not too hard to follow, but it had very little dialogue. It is nice and short, probably would have been boring if they made it any longer, and the end seemed pretty abrupt. This film is not for everyone and I would say that if sex, violence, s&m, or disturbing images offend you, this is not the movie for you. This movie is one that you enjoy but might feel bad for saying so. Regardless, it is an interesting movie and definately worth a watch.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting to say the least...
Review: This was a very interesting film. I first saw it on the Sundance channel and decided to get it. First off its important to clarify that this film is NOT a porn. It is very surreal, and just altogether strange. The plot was interesting and not too hard to follow, but it had very little dialogue. It is nice and short, probably would have been boring if they made it any longer, and the end seemed pretty abrupt. This film is not for everyone and I would say that if sex, violence, s&m, or disturbing images offend you, this is not the movie for you. This movie is one that you enjoy but might feel bad for saying so. Regardless, it is an interesting movie and definately worth a watch.
Rating:
Summary: Very very slooooooow!
Review: Yes there are a few scenes of violence (with humor) and sex (not explicit), but for the most part this movie is scene after scene of this woman rowing her boat across the lake -- she rows out with lunch, she rows back, she rows out a visitor, she rows back, she rows out for sex, she rows back. There is very little dialogue (which is in Korean with English subtitles), and there are some 5-8 minute stretches of no dialogue at all and very little action. . . The film lacks suspense and the pacing is slower than the slowest of Japanese films, without the philosophical justification. Pass on this one.
|
