Kim Ki-duk goes domestic

Korean director Kim Ki-duk is best known for his disturbing, often controversial films. The Isle, Address Unknown, Bad Guy, and Samaria all deal with rather dark topics, and are often the subject of critical debate in Korea. The Buddhist parable of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring appealed quite a bit to Western audiences, and the film was a breakthrough hit in America and Europe. Kim's latest film is 3 Iron (Bin Jip), winner of the Best Director award at the Venice International Film Festival. For the first time, Kim has created a domestic drama -- a genre that Korean directors are very good at (i.e., Happy End, A Good Lawyer's Wife) -- and Filmbrain is quite excited about this one. A love triangle of sorts, the story tells of a woman stuck in an abusive marriage who begins an affair with a man who illegally lives in other people's houses -- and all this happens right under the nose of the husband. This is right up Filmbrain's alley -- hopefully the film will get distribution in the US. Have a look at the trailer -- it can be found here or here. (Nice use of a Jobim song as well.) The official website, which has a lovely interface, can be found here.

Comments

[James Cobo]

God, I must be the only person on earth who was bored to tears by Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall... and Spring.

[Greg Samsa]

Whatever happened to that Hong Sang-Soo interview? Would like to check it out.

[FIlmbrain]

Greg --

I just haven't had the time to finish transcribing it, editing it, etc.

Soon -- I promise.

[girish]

I liked "3-Iron" a great deal. It had this unusual tone which was a blend of romance, deadpan comedy and ghost story, which really worked.

There were some touches which (startlingly)reminded me a bit of Tsai!

[Greg Samsa]

Okay, thanks for the update. I'll keep checking back!

[Kang MinWoo]

The star of the film, Lee SeungYeon, was in a controversy a few months ago when she posed nude with comfort women as a theme, and she basically pissed off comfort women associations so much they drove her to tears begging for mercy on TV programs. It seems like it took a lot of effort for Kim to drag her back to the big screen. As it is, without even looking at it, the movie's pretty controversial in Korea.

Some people are avoiding the film because of her.

[FIlmbrain]

I found some of the photos online -- questionable taste at best.

Thanks for sharing the story.

[kr]

Nah, it did not take any effort for Kim to cast Lee. Lee was too famous and maybe, too "expensive" for Kim's film, but when Lee was literally 'attacked', everyone said she couldn't be in any kind of media again. Kim was very excited to tell that he was going to cast that woman, (obviously no one wanted her, he could use her cheap.) Lee was ready to jump in. And Kim is not really "popular" in Korea in the first place, they didn't really care who the hell he wanted for his crap. He shot the movie too fast to give a damn, anyway. (for like 11 days, huh?)

The director is famous for making controversial movies only to consider himself as an artist. There are so many Korean anti Kims out there who believe he is making movies to win awards. Especially when he made that crap Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall... and Spring, everyone knew that he made this to appeal those kinda film festivals using that cheesy oriental vibe. He's that cheap. He tries so hard to look like 'artistic', but there's nothing but emptiness.

[FIlmbrain]

11 days?!? Amazing.

I don't know if I fully agree with your second paragraph, though others have charged him with exactly the same thing. What Spring, Summer... a hit in Korea?

[Nihkar]

Does any body know any details about the movie score/soundtrack???? The name of the singer, song or anything???

thanx
ni

[Dimaz]

jae hee this picture is fuck
what are you doing in this film ???
i love you in sassy girl choon hyang