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April 28, 2014

Korean Trio Booked for TerracottaFar East Film Festival Takes Place in London

by Pierce Conran KOFIC 

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The 2014 edition of the Terracotta Far East Film Festival, run by Far East Asian film purveyor Terracotta Distribution, has invited a trio of new Korean films to screen in London next month. The festival will feature the period yarn The Face Reader, the North Korean spy film Commitment and the controversial indie Moebius. All three will screen in the Current Asian Cinema section. 

HAN Jae-rim’s The Face Reader, his third film after Rules of Dating (2005) and The Show Must Go On (2007), was a big hit during the Chuseok holiday last fall. Starring SONG Kang-ho, the film brought in over 9.1 million viewers. PARK Hong-soo’s Commitment features idol star CHOI Seung-hyun (also known as T.O.P. from the group Big Bang) as a young North Korean spy posing as a South Korean high school student. The film was sold to various markets across the US, Europe and Asia. 

KIM Ki-duk’s Moebius stoked some controversy when it took three submissions to get approved by the Korean Media Ratings Board, eventually making some minor cuts. The film was first screened out of competition at the Venice International Film Festival last August. The Terracotta Far East Film Festival will take place from May 23rd to June 1st.

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June 2, 2014

Kim Ki-duk invited to Venice three years straight

Source: The Korea Herald

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Star filmmaker Kim Ki-duk has been invited to Venice International Film Festival this year, Korean film distributor FINECUT said. 

His movie “One on One” will be screening as the opening film of the Giornate degli Autori Venice Days, an independent, subsidiary film festival supported by Italian filmmakers and producers. A total of 12 films are invited annually. 

This is Kim’s third year in a row being invited to Venice. 

The 54-year-old won the Golden Lion Award for his film “Pieta” in 2012. The next year, he was once again invited for his film “Moebius” as part of the non-competition section. 

“One on One,” Kim’s 20th film released on May 22 in Korea, tells the story of seven suspects in the rape-murder of a teen girl as they are terrorized by members of a sect known as The Shadows. It stars actor Ma Dong-suk. 

The film festival begins in August. 

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September 12, 2014

ONE ON ONE Brings KIM Ki-duk Another Trophy at Venice

Wins the FEDEORA at the Venice Days section of the 71st Venice International Film Festival 

by YUN Ina KOBIZ

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KIM Ki-duk won the FEDEORA (Best Film award) with ONE ON ONE at the 11th Venice Days section of the 71st Venice International Film Festival, which closed on September 6. ‘Venice Days’, an equivalence of Director’s Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival, is held under the supervision of Italian film festival directors’ society and producers’ society. ONE ON ONE was screened as the opener of the Venice Days and earned favorable comments from viewers of the world. It is a meaningful result especially because European Auteurism films have overwhelmed in the ‘Venice Days’ so far.

KIM Ki-duk has history of connection with Venice. PIETA made him win the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival and he was invited to the non-competition section of the 70th edition of the festival with MOEBIUS in the following year. This year, he visited the ‘Venice Days’ of the 71st Venice International Film Festival, where he grabbed the Best Film award with ONE ON ONE, so he has been invited to the festival 3 years in a row and had the honor to win awards twice. ONE ON ONE is a film about a high school girl being cruelly murdered. 7 suspects and 7 shadow characters fight each other in the film.

Among people who have surrendered to and compromised with corruption and lived as cowards, the protagonist fights for justice and tragically dies in the end. Critics said it is an impressive film plainly showing the painful aspect of Korea that all grudgingly ignored. MA Dong-seok, KIM Yeong-min and YI Yi-kyung appear in this 20th film of KIM Ki-duk. After winning the award, KIM Ki-duk said, “ONE ON ONE is story about ordinary people standing up against corruption of power.  I hope this film gives viewers in the world a chance to look back themselves and to empathize the agony of the times through an incident that symbolizes the end of democracy and the death of the main character who tried to dig the truth behind the incident.”

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October 1, 2014

MOEBIUS Hits US and UK Home MarketsControversial KIM Ki-duk Film to Bow on DVD/Blu-Ray/VOD

by Pierce Conran  KOBIZ

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KIM Ki-duk’s controversial 19th film Moebius, which found itself in trouble with Korean censors ahead of its domestic release, has been well received in English language territories and is set to hit the US and UK home markets this month, courtesy of RAM Releasing and Terracotta Distribution, respectively.

New York-based distribution house RAM Releasing will launch Moebius on DVD and Blu-ray come October 28th, while the London outfit Terracotta Distribution will put the film out on DVD and Video on Demand starting October 13th. Starring CHO Jae-hyun, SEO Young-joo and LEE Eun-woo, the dialogue-free film focuses on a small family unit that quickly disintegrates when the husband is caught cheating and his wife castrates their teenage son as a result, with things only going more haywire from there. Moebius had its world premiere as an out of competition screening at the Venice International Film Festival last year and went on to screen at the Toronto, Busan and Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festivals, among many others. KIM’s latest film is One on One, another film to have its festival premiere at Venice and which will also be featured at this month’s Busan International Film Festival.

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October 4, 2014 

Korean filmmakers join Sewol protest

By Jean Noh ScreenDaily

More than 1,000 Korean filmmakers and actors, including Park Chan-wook, Kim Ki-duk and Park Hae-il, have joined a declaration at Busan urging for legislation to ensure an independent special investigation into the Sewol ferry disaster.

Over 300 people are counted dead or missing, with 250 of them minors, as a result of the Sewol ferry sinking this past April.

Perhaps in the largest consolidated action comprising independent and commercial filmmakers as well as actors, the group has announced they will hold a variety of cultural events and activities at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in order to communicate their intent to the world’s film community and audiences.

They started with a press conference yesterday (Oct 3) in front of BIFF’s Busan Cinema Center and plan to hold one-person protest demonstrations, flash mobs and a petition campaign over the next fortnight. Yellow ribbons commemorating the lost are visible on participants’ chests as well.

The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol

In related news, the festival has seen controversy over its selection of documentary The Truth Shall Not Sink With Sewol in its Wide Angle section. Mayor of Busan, Seo Byeong-soo, who is also head of the BIFF organising committee, reportedly asked the festival to take the film out of the selection.

Directed by investigative reporter and producer Lee Sang-ho and documentary filmmaker Ahn Hae-ryong, the film details issues that arose in the botched Sewol rescue mission. Victims’ families have protested the screening, while others have supported it.

Asked to comment on the controversy, director Bong Joon Ho, who is here on the New Currents jury, said: “It’s my personal opinion, but I think the mayor – it being his first year in office, and the film festival already about to have 20 years of history – I think he might have made a mistake because he didn’t quite know what programming is.

“It’s like going to a famous established restaurant of 20 or 30 years and asking them to take this out and that out of [a delicacy like] Hamheung cold noodles. I think festival directors Kim Dong-ho and Lee Yong-kwan must have forgiven him generously.”

The festival is going ahead with the film’s screenings Oct 6 and 10 as planned, with an early sold out box office.

Posted

October 7, 2014

Kim Ki-duk throws down $10,000 challenge

Source: The Korea Times

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/AFP
Director Kim Ki-duk says his latest film, "One on One," is based on a historical event. And he's daring film buffs to pin down the exact incident, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 
He's offering 10 million won to the person who gives the right answer. 
The film "is based on an incident that took place in recent years menacing democratic rights, but nobody ― no film critic or journalist ― has written a film review mentioning it.," Kim was quoted as saying during a stage interview at the ongoing Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). 
"I will give 10 million won to anyone, even if it's an Internet user, who makes a close guess." 
The film, which ran at the Venice International Film Festival, revolves around the brutal murder of a high school girl. Seven suspects in the case are hunted down by seven members of a terrorist group called "Shadow."

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October 30, 2014
25 Years of the Best Asian Films
by matthewgist-54-206142 IMDb.
1. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)2. Raise the Red Lantern (1991)3. To Live (1994)4. Princess Mononoke (1997)5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)6. J.S.A.: Joint Security Area (2000)7. Failan (2001)8. Spirited Away (2001)9. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)10. Oldboy (2003)11. 3-Iron (2004)12. A Bittersweet Life (2005) 13. Fearless (2006)14. The Warlords (2007)15. The Chaser (2008)16. The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) 17. Breathless (2008)18. Thirst (2009)19. Castaway on the Moon (2009)20. The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)21. Aftershock (2010)22. I Saw the Devil (2010) 23. The Front Line (2011)24. Masquerade (2012) 25. New World (2013)

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March 3, 2015

Cartagena Film Festival to Honor KIM Ki-duk

6 Film Retrospective to Be Staged

by Pierce Conran /  KOBIZ

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Korea’s indie maverick KIM Ki-duk is set to be honored at the Cartagena Film Festival (FICC), the oldest festival in South America, during its upcoming 55th edition. The festival will take place in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, from March 11th to 17th.

Following a screening of 3-Iron (2004), a Silver Lion winner at the Venice International Film Festival, on the 15th, KIM will be awarded the India Catalina honorary award and take part in a Q&A with the audience. Six of the auteur’s 20 works to date will be presented throughout the festival, including The Isle (2000), Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (2003), 2004’s Samaritan Girl (a Silver Bear winner at the Berlin International Film Festival), The Bow (2005) and Venice Golden Lion winner Pieta (2012),

in addition to 3-Iron. KIM’s most recent film, the revenge thriller One on One, debuted internationally as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival sidebar Venice Days last year, where it picked up the Fedeora Award. Also being bestowed with an honor this year at the Colombian festival will be Argentine filmmaker Pablo Trapero, the director behind 2010’s Carancho.

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April 2, 2015

Beijing International Film Festival Appoints KIM Ki-duk for Jury

THE WHISTLEBLOWER, DIRECTOR’S CUT, REVIVRE and THE ROAD CALLED LIFE Invited

by June Kim / KOFIC

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The 5th Beijing International Film Festival, which has been growing into one of the biggest film festivals in the world, announced part of its programming on Tuesday. The festival has invited 930 global films from 90 countries around the world to compete for the Tiantan Awards. The event is co-hosted by the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality and the General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of China. KIM Ki-duk, the director of films like Pieta (2012) and Moebius (2013) has been chosen to join a group of industry professionals on the international jury.

Chaired by auteur Luc Besson, the other members include Russian filmmaker Fedor Bondarchuk; Hong Kong filmmaker Peter CHAN; American screenwriter and filmmaker Robert Mark Kamen; Brazilian film producer, director, and screenwriter Fernando Meirelles; and Chinese actress ZHOU Xun. The group of seven will vote on fifteen films for ten awards which will be presented during the awards ceremony on closing night. The Tiantan Award includes Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Feature Film and Best Music.

Out of the programming announced thus far, four Korean films have been revealed. They are IM Soon-rye’s The Whistleblower, which will be in competition, while IM Kwon-taek’s Revivre and directors AHN Jae-hoon and HAN Hye-jin’s The Road Called Life are in the Panorama section, while PARK Joon-bum’s Director’s Cut is in Non-competition. The annual Beijing International Film Festival will open its curtains on April 16th and close on the 23rd.

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April 16, 2015

On the jury

Source: INSIDE Korea JoongAng Daily

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South Korean Director Kim Ki-duk, one of the members of the jury at the fifth Beijing International Film Festival, arrives in Beijing on Tuesday. The festival runs from Friday to Monday. [XINHUA/NEWSIS]

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May 21, 2015

Kim Ki-duk’s ‘Made in China’ confirmed for June release

The sixth movie written and produced by director Kim Ki-duk “Made In China” will be released in Korean in June.

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(OSEN)

The movie follows the events surrounding a Chinese man named “Chen” and an agent of the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety named “Mi.”

Both “Chen” and “Mi” are after the truth surrounding the level of mercury found in eels imported from China. 

“Chen” will be played by Park Ki-woong and “Mi” will be played by actress Han Chae-ah. 

The character played by Park, who played a North Korean spy in the movie “Secretly, Greatly,” is after the truth, while “Mi” is a government employee who needs to hide the truth. 

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)

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December 2, 2015

Park Chan-wook tops revenge chart

Source: The Korea Times

Spoiler

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From top, scenes from "Sympathy from Mr. Vengeance" (2002), "Oldboy" (2003) and "Lady Vengeance"

Film director Park Chan-wook has topped an American movie-ranking website's chart for the best Korean revenge movies, with his "vengeance trilogy."

Website "Taste of Cinema" posted "The 10 Best South Korean Revenge Movies."

Topping the list was Park's trilogy "Sympathy from Mr. Vengeance" (2002), "Oldboy" (2003) and "Lady Vengeance" (2005).

Park is a frequent guest at prominent global film festivals such as the Cannes Film Festival with "Thirst" in 2009 and the Berlin Film Festival with "Night Fishing" in 2011.

Park's films portray brutal vengeance by a main character.

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From left, posters for "I Saw the Devil" (2010), "Mother" (2009), "The Man from Nowhere" (2010) and "Pieta"

In "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance," Song Kang-ho played a vengeful protagonist, while Choi Min-sik and Lee Young-ae each played a similar role in "Oldboy" and "Lady Vengeance," respectively.

Calling Park "the master of revenge," the website explains that the characters"are victims of a series of circumstances that soon become their own collection of tragedies."

On a news program on CBS Radio on Wednesday, actress Lee Jung-hyun, who won the Best Actress Award for "Alice in Earnestland" at the Blue Dragon Awards on Nov. 26, said Park had strongly encouraged her to take the role.

Park's trilogy was followed in order by "I Saw the Devil" (2010), "Mother" (2009), "The Man from Nowhere" (2010) and "Pieta" (2012). 

aoshima11@ktimes.com

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February 4, 2016

Ryoo Seung-bum may star in Kim Ki-duk’s movie

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Ryoo Seung-bum (left) and Kim Ki-duk (OSEN)

Korean actor Ryoo Seung-bum is likely to appear in a film by award-winning director Kim Ki-duk, according to local reports Wednesday. 

“Kim is now seeking actors and actresses for his new film, ‘Web,’” an official with Kim’s film production company Kim Ki-duk Film was quoted as saying. 

“Ryoo recently met Kim and discussed starring in the film, but nothing has yet been determined,” the source said. If Ryoo does accept the proposal, the 35-year-old will play a North Korean fisherman in the movie, revolving around the two Koreas. 

The filmography of Ryoo, who debuted in 2000 in “Die Bad,” spans from drama, action, comedy, romance and crime movie. He was highly acclaimed especially for his portrayal of a tactful and cunning prosecutor in “The Unjust” (2010). His elder brother Ryoo Seung-wan is a film director.

Director Kim won Silver Bear for Samaritan Girl (2004) at the Berlin International Film Festival, a Silver Lion for “3-Iron” (2004) at the Venice Film Festival, the Un Certain Regard Prize for “Arirang” (2011) at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Lion for “Pieta” (2012) at the Venice Film Festival.

Ryoo has not appeared in any of Kim’s previous films.

After the actors and actresses are fully cast, Kim will kick off production, the source added. 

By Son Ji-hyoung (json@heraldcorp.com)

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April 4, 2016

Major Korean directors set for comeback

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)

Some of Korea’s most internationally renowned directors are gearing up for a comeback this summer with projects that are pricier and on a grander scale, promising audiences a vigorous movie scene in the upcoming months. 

The level of Hollywood involvement in the local movie industry this year is significant, serving as an indicator that the country’s $1.52-billion film market -- led primarily by domestic films -- is becoming increasingly significant to foreign investors. It is also testimony to the substantial mark Korean directors are making in global cinema. 

The following is a list of upcoming films that have been generating buzz: 

“Net” by director Kim Ki-duk 

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(Korean Movie Database)

Not much has been revealed about director Kim Ki-duk’s upcoming film “Net,” except that it finished its filming in just two weeks in February, according to reports, in line with the director’s notoriously idiosyncratic style and cost-efficient work process.

The film centers on a North Korean fisherman, played by actor Ryu Seung-beom, stranded in South Korea. He develops a close relationship with a rookie intelligence officer of the South, played by actor Lee Won-keun. 

Best known for his critically acclaimed film “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring” (2003), Kim has a number of international prizes under his belt, including the Golden Lion at the 2012 Venice International Film Festival for “Pieta” and the Un Certain Regard prize at the 2011 Cannes fest for “Arirang.” 

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July 29, 2016

Kim Ki-duk’s ‘The Net’ to be shown at Venice Film Festival

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Official poster for Kim Ki-duk’s “The Net” (Next Entertainment World)

Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk has been invited to the annual Venice International Film Festival for the world premiere of “The Net.”

Scheduled to be screened under the festival’s noncompetitive program, “The Net” will be presented alongside Kim Ji-woon’s historical thriller “The Age of Shadows” and American actor Mel Gibson’s first directorial production in a decade, “Hacksaw Ridge,” among others. 

Featuring actor Ryoo Seung-bum, “The Net” follows a North Korean fisherman who finds himself drifting toward South Korean territory. This is the seventh time Kim has been invited to the Venice film festival.

Meanwhile, Kim is currently working on a war film “Who is God,” which recently received a 250 million yuan ($37.6 million) investment from a Chinese production company.

The 73rd Venice International Film Festival, which is the oldest film festival in the world, will take place from Aug. 31 to Sept. 10.

By Kim Yu-young (ivykim@heraldcorp.com)

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August 5, 2016

THE AGE OF SHADOWS and THE NET to Premiere in Venice
Korean Auteurs on Show at 73rd Biennale

by Pierce Conran / KoBiz

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The upcoming 73rd Venice International Film Festival, the oldest major film event in the world, will host the premieres of new works from two major Korean talents. Acclaimed genre auteur KIM Jee-woon will take his first steps on the Lido with his Colonial Era action-thriller The Age of Shadows while former Golden Lion winner KIM Ki-duk returns to the fest with his latest film The Net.
 
KIM’s first film shot in Korea since 2010’s I Saw The Devil (he released his 2013 Hollywood debut The Last Stand in the interim), The Age of Shadows reunites the director with frequent acolyte SONG Kang-ho in a tale of a Korean independence group that fights against Japanese oppressors during the Colonial Era which stretched from 1910 to 1945. GONG Yoo, who is currently riding high on the success of the zombie thriller TRAIN TO BUSAN, co-stars in the film. The film, which screens Out of Competition in Venice, is slated to open in Korea on September 7th and will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival.
 
Already a winner at Venice in 2004, when he received the Silver Lion for Best Director for 3-Iron, and 2012, when he picked up the Golden Lion for Pieta, KIM Ki-duk returns to Venice with his 22nd feature The Net, his first trip since 2014’s One on One. The film features actor RYOO Seung-bum in the lead role, last seen in IM Sang-soo’s Intimate Enemies (2015). The film will screen in the ‘Cinema in the Garden’ section.

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August 25, 2016

KIM Ki-duk’s Latest Presells to Seven Markets
THE NET Popular with Buyers ahead of Venice Bow

by Pierce Conran / KoBiz

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Prolific Korean arthouse filmmaker KIM Ki-duk will soon premiere his latest film The Net at the Venice International Film Festival and ahead of its global bow, international sales outfit FINECUT has reported that the feature has already presold to seven countries.
 
The Net was purchased by King Records for Japan, AS Fidalgo Film Distribution for Norway, Aurora Films for Poland, Bir Film for Turkey and Contact Film for the Benelux territories. Following its debut on the Lido, The Net will have its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, as part of its Masters program, which will also feature Yourself and Yours, the latest title from Korea’s other prolific auteur, HONG Sang-soo.
 
In Venice, the film will feature in the Cinema in the Garden program. KIM has frequently been featured at Venice, having won the Silver Lion for Best Director with 3-Iron in 2004 and the Golden Lion for Pieta in 2012. His last time at the Italian fest was in 2014, when his 20th film One on One opened the Venice Days sidebar.
 
The Net features RYOO Seung-bum as a North Korean fisherman who is mistaken for a spy in the south and is coerced into becoming a spy against his own country. The film also features LEE Won-geun, KIM Young-min and CHOI Guy-hwa in its cast. KIM Ki-duk wrote, produced and shot the film, as well as directing.

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September 3, 2016

Venice 2016 Review: THE NET Is a Simple Catch from Kim Ki-duk

Pierce Conran ScreenAnarchy

Complex issues get a facile treatment in The Net, the latest work from Korean provocateur Kim Ki-duk. More coherent than his last two outings but a far cry from his best work, Kim's film comes off as little more than a simplistic sermon brought to life through routine indie specs.

The narrative kicks off with an intriguing premise, as a simple North Korean fisherman helplessly drifts south of the heavily guarded Joint Security Area when his fishing net gums up his boat's engine, which becomes an effective, if labored metaphor for the various situations the man finds himself in. Korea's National Intelligence Service puts him through a lengthy interrogation and eventually tries to turn him rather than fulfil his wish to return him North to his family.

Ryoo Seung-bum follows last year's lamentable Im Sang-soo action-comedy Intimate Enemies with a rare indie part as the stranded North Korean. Gruff and cagey, its a solid central performance that plays against type and yields the film's only character who rises above wafer-thin, if only just.

Making a point to show that South Korea, for all its upward mobility, can be just as controlling as its maligned northern neighbor, Kim employs straightforward situations to repeatedly bring home his tired moralizing. Most scenes serve a function, even if they lack entertainment value, but over the film's 113-minute running time, there are some sequences that belabor the director's already stated points and might best have been excised entirely. One of these is an encounter where Ryoo's not-quite-prisoner roams the streets of Central Seoul and ends up saving a prostitute from a pair of thuggish pimps and befriending her. She offers her body to him as a means of repayment, which he declines, an action that implies the crass consumerism of the Far East Asian republic but which the director does not seem to think is inherently problematic from a gender perspective.

We don't look to Kim Ki-duk for technical panache the way we might of Korea's big-budget filmmakers but even so, there's little beyond the bare essentials here as the film lacks the lyrical beauty of some of his early films or even the busy and ascetic grit of his recent works such as Pieta. Unfortunately it most resembles his confused and plodding One on One, the most flatly filmed Korean revenge thriller of recent memory.

The only real visual flair comes when the fisherman is in his boat, as his dinghy drifts through the frigid lapping waters of the Korean coast. Noble in its own unambitious way, The Net amounts to a watchable if frustratingly thin quasi-arthouse drama from a filmmaker whose done so much more with less in the past.

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September 29, 2016

Small fish caught in ‘The Net’ of big ideologies

Kim Ki-duk’s new film tells a surprisingly neat tale of how the blind pursuit of ideology can quash individual lives 

Controversial director Kim Ki-duk has veered away from the provocative in his latest psychological drama “The Net,” which centers on a North Korean fisherman who accidentally drifts into South Korean waters. Verbose, calculated, and bordering on didactic, the film, which premiered at Venice International Film Festival last month, might be described as the prolific and brazen director’s most wholesome, public-friendly work to date. While relatively low on shock factor, coming from Kim, it does provide compelling insights into Korea’s division and how different generations of South Koreans view it 66 years after the Korean War.

Nam Chul-woo (Ryoo Seung-beom) is a humble fisherman living in a small but homey shack near the Imjin River that borders South Korea with his docile wife and young daughter. Each day Nam ventures out into the precarious waters to catch a handful of small fish to sustain his family. One day, his net is caught in the engine and his crumbling fishing boat is carried by the tides toward the South Korean waters. North Korean soldiers spot him from afar, unable to distinguish whether Nam is defecting or in distress.

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“The Net” stars Ryoo Seung-bum (left) as North Korean fisherman Nam Chul-woo and Kim Young-min as a South Korean interrogator. (Next Entertainment World)

Nam is taken in for questioning when South Korea’s National Intelligence Service discovers him washed ashore on the beach. The interrogating officer in charge of his case (Kim Young-min) is adamant on proving, through torture if necessary, that Nam is a spy. Oh Jin-woo (Lee Won-geun), Nam’s minder, is more sympathetic. He believes in the fisherman’s sincerity and vouches for him, urging South Korean officials to let Nam return to his home and reunite with his family.

With insufficient evidence to prove that Nam is indeed a spy, the NIS decides to convince him to defect, taking him to Myeong-dong, Seoul’s bustling, tourist-filled downtown to woo him with the luster of capitalism. Nam refuses to give in, keeping his eyes shut and only reluctantly opening them when forced to do so. After discovering the endless rows of towering buildings and products and a short encounter with a struggling female prostitute, all preconceptions about life changes for the simple fisherman.

Ultimately, it is clear that Nam is a small fish caught in the net of big ideologies that are presented as equally dogmatic and annihilating of the individual. A physically battered and psychologically shaken Nam is sent back to North Korea, where he no longer fits into the simplicity of his hand-to-mouth life. And his home country is short of welcoming, the authorities there trusting his story no more than their southern counterparts. 

The film offers three characters who are each representative of a specific generation’s view on inter-Korean matters. The senior NIS official acts on patriotism and duty, firmly believing in liberating Nam from the vile authoritarian regime; the mid-level interrogator pursues his own frenzied agenda to punish all communists, who he believes are criminals by default; and youngest official Oh is swayed by fisherman’s desire to return to his family, connecting with him on a human level.

The 55-year-old director served in the South Korean Navy in his youth, during which he was trained to be full of “antipathy” toward the repressive nation across the border. After his discharge, however, Kim realized that “individual rage cannot solve inter-Korean problems,” he said. “Korea seems to be the battleground for global powers. I wanted us to look back on our problem from our own perspective.”

Kim has probed a wide range of human conditions in his past work: he showed profound contemplation against the stunning backdrop in “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring” (2003) and a similar wistfulness in “The Bow” (2015); raging loneliness and brutality in “Address Unknown” (2001); and the savage depths to which motherhood can sink in “Pieta” (2012), which won the Golden Lion in Venice. 

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A scene from “The Net” (Next Entertainment World)

For those seeking Kim’s blunt observation of the violence and paradox that pervade the gritty, often unpalatable lives of the marginalized, this film may feel tame and intellectual, each line a political message. But Kim felt the issue of national defense was a profound one that needed to be addressed.

“It’s not a question of one individual, it’s a question of our future,” he said. “In any case, I believe that the world we live in has to be stable in order for filmmakers to make films.

“It’s not a film I made just for this generation but also for the next generation, which will be responsible for whether Korea will be able to reunite. ... As the years go by, we seem to be growing increasingly tangled in arguments rather than getting close to finding a solution.”

Kim previously participated in producing and writing films such as “Poongsan” (2011) and “Red Family” (2013), which also center on how the South-North ideological tension affects familes. 

“The Net” opens in local theaters on Oct. 6. 

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)

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