In addition to Chan-wook Park (“Old Boy”), South Korea has one of the most talented directors working in cinema today in Ki-duk Kim. Like his fellow countryman, Kim’s films are raw, emotional and uncompromising, though they tend to focus more on the psychological rather than the visceral, dealing with the darker aspects of human desire.
Perhaps for this reason, or perhaps because his films lean more towards the abstract and art-house, he is not quite as well known internationally.
However, “The Isle”, “Bad Guy”, and more recently, “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter..and Spring” have earned worldwide release and praise, and word is at last spreading that Kim is a director of considerable skill.
“Samaria”, his most recent effort, was shot quickly and on a low budget, though this never shows onscreen. It is a powerful and moving film that provides a thought-provoking view on the controversial subject of teen prostitution, and is well deserved of its recent win at the Berlin Film Festival.
The story follows two schoolgirls, Yeo-jin (Ji-min Kwak) and Jae-yeong (Min-jeong Seo). In order to raise money for their trip to Europe, Jae-yeong works as a prostitute while Yeo-jin sets up clients and manages the money.
The two have very different views on what they are doing. Jae-yeong is happy to sleep with men for money, imagining herself as a modern incarnation of Vasumitra, a legendary prostitute who converted men to Buddhism through the act of sex. She seems to enjoy her work and is happy to form relationships with the men she meets.
Yeo-jin, on the other hand, feels dirty at being involved, jealous of the feelings Jae-yeong has for her clients, and guilty about the fact that it is her friend who is selling herself. However, after a tragic accident, Yeo-jin is forced to confront her feelings and to reassess her passive role. Things get worse when her father discovers what she is doing and, unable to accept his daughter’s actions, takes matters into his own hands.
This is obviously controversial material, and Kim, who also wrote the script, handles it skillfully and objectively. Shying away from the surreal touches that characterized “The Isle” or the gritty sleaze of “Bad Guy”, he simply sets events in motion and lets the story tell itself. This is not to suggest that his approach is cold; far from it, as in Jae-yeong, Yeo-jin, and her father, Kim creates a set of painfully believable characters that the viewer cares deeply about.
However, it is left to us to judge their actions, and whilst the film follows a definite narrative course, there are many different interpretations of the psychology behind the characters and their reactions to events.
Read more at Beyond Hollywood
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