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 THE
ISLE (First
Run Features) 2001. Drama. 89 minutes. Korean with English Subtitles.
Not Rated, violence, nudity. Hee-Jin, a hot Korean woman, lives on a
secluded lake selling coffee and worms to the tenants of her floating
cabins on the water during the day, and her body by night. Taking refuge
in one of these cabins is Hyun-Shuk,
a depressed and suicidal cop on the run. Finding herself extremely
attracted to Hyun, Hee-Jin soon becomes jealous after a prostitute visits
Hyun a number of times. Eventually, all these negatives merge and, well,
bad things happen.
Director Kim Ki-Duk does a masterful job of injecting human
ugliness into the idyllic surroundings of a beautiful lake. The setting of
The Isle is soothing and calming, but the ugly side of human nature twists
that atmosphere into sheer nastiness. Since, the main character doesn’t
so much as squeak a single word, the dialog is minimal with the subtitles
far and few in between. Since all of the female characters are either
crazy or prostitutes and are the recipients of several smacks, misogynists
will certainly get all worked up while viewing The Isle. I, on the other
hand, enjoyed the females for their complex character..and hottiness! And
boy-oh-boy, trust me when I write that I shall never look at a fish hook
the same way ever again. Along with NOW members being thoroughly disgusted
with the portrayal of women in this movie, I trust that members of PETA
will be just as disgusted with the few shots of animal butchering.
Chop chop. DVD extras include interviews with the director and
actors, making of featurette, and a music video. Lots of cool stuff going
on here, check it out. – Denis Sheehan
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