Director Kim Ki-duk (South Korea)
A master of repulsive and reflective drama.
Let South Korean director Ki-duk Kim introduce himself to you with 'Pieta', 'The Net', and 'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring'. I loved them in that order (and have linked them to persuasive reviews, and placed their trailers at the bottom of this post).
'3-Iron' may not have been love but it was surreal and profound. And the old man and the virgin in 'The Bow' will gently prepare you for the savageness behind his art.
Maybe I should only be outraged at the chauvinism and animal cruelty of 'The Isle' but that bizarre romance was fascinating. He perverted further with 'Moebius', a penis-centric horror-drama about a eunuch. I literally flinched, and later laughed. It's a fucked up movie which guaranteed I watched until end. Similarly, it says something about our species that 'Bad Guy', which was about a gangster forcing a woman into sexual slavery, was a commercial success in Asia.
Ki-duk Kim deserves controversy as a moviemaker and a man. Although never convicted, it's unsurprising that several actresses laid charges against him for the way they were treated on set. Nevertheless, some of his 26 movies unquestionably continue to have something to say after his "covid complicated" death in 2020.
You should not miss the diversity of:
‘Pieta’ (2012)
It was the first entry to win the Venice Film Festival’s top award. It also won Best Foreign Film at the Satellite Awards in Los Angeles. NPR warned that “The film takes a long road to spirituality, though with plenty of stops for violence and perversion along the way. Like Abel Ferrara's ‘Bad Lieutenant’, this story is determined to put core Christian principles to the harshest tests imaginable.”
‘The Net’ (2016)
It’s about a village fisherman captured and mistaken as a spy, and the culture shock he experiences thereafter. Using the current cold war between North Korea and South Korea, it’s a strong statement on the cost to humanity at the bottom. It won prizes at the Sakhalin International Film Festival, the World Cinema Amsterdam, and the Blue Dragon Film Awards.
'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring' (2003)
It won several awards and was South Korea’s submission to the Oscars. The director said that, “I intended to portray the joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure of our lives through four seasons and through the life of a monk who lives in a temple on Jusan Pond surrounded only by nature." Those with weaker hearts should probably begin here.