The Bow

A

Directed by Kim Ki-Duk

Even though I have not always enjoyed Kim Ki-Duk's films I still hold all of them in great regard since they are all inbued with the same unbelievable attention to detail and a skill for observing human interaction that is second to none in contemporary film. Kim's films are almost always slow, meditative affairs that revolve around almost anecdotal plot lines and feature a noticeable absence of dialogue, all elements that mask the often multilayered interactions that go on between Kim' characters. In this respect, "The Bow" is probably Kim's most fully realized work, moreso than even "3-Iron," or "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring," as it boasts layers of fascinating interaction between the films main protoganists.

"The Bow" takes place entirely on a rickety fishing barge owned by an old man and his daughter, who he plans to marry away when she turns 17. The pair seem entirely content with their spartan existence on the boat which they rent out to mainlaind anglers wishing for a few days on the open sea, although the father's overprotectiveness of his daughter often borders on the insane as he discourages their advances towards the girl with warning arrow shots from his trusty bow. As the film wears on, we sense something may be amiss in the relationship between father and daughter, a suspicion thta is confirmed when a young mainlainder begins to take an interest in the old man's daughter.

Without ruining more of the film than I already have, let me say that Kim ki-Duk plays around with some rather explosive and lurid material here but succeeds in telling in a story that, despite its subject matter, never seems exploitative or cheap. Rather, "The Bow" is a understated and at times ravishingly beautiful film that succeeds in setting up an "isolated and marginal world" as koreanfilm.com's Darcy Paquet put it, and allowing the interactions between the film's character to provide the intrigue. Unlike Paquet and others who found the film to be lacking in the areas where "Samaritan Girl" and "3-Iron" succeeded, I found that Kim was much more honest in his depiction of the relationships in "The Bow" than he was in either of the above films, both of which, although enjoyable in their own right, were either too gimmicky (3-Iron) or too obvious in their emotional manipulation (Samaritan Girl).