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Movies / On DVD / The Isle
The Isle

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The Isle (2002)

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Reviews Counted: 32

Fresh: 24

Rotten:8

Average Rating: 6.2/10

Consensus: A compelling and oddly haunting combination of brutal and beautiful imagery.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 89 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Aug 23, 2002 Limited

Synopsis: The eerily beautiful photography and melodic musical score of THE ISLE stand in odd contrast to the brutal horror story it tells. On the serene surface of a secluded bay float a series of... The eerily beautiful photography and melodic musical score of THE ISLE stand in odd contrast to the brutal horror story it tells. On the serene surface of a secluded bay float a series of candy-colored fishing houses, rented to men who seek an escape. The owner and operator of the village is a mute woman with a row boat who delivers her guests to their floating rooms, and sells them bait, food, coffee, prostitutes, and occasionally her own body. The men mistreat her, and her wounded spirit haunts the lake. At first subtle and secretive, but increasingly more bold and direct, the mute woman enacts unexpected violence upon the men. For example, when one client is leaning out over the dock to defecate into the lake, she swims up behind him, pulls him under the water, and stabs him. The blurred, partially submerged camerawork suggests that the woman is disembodied while committing these acts, as if unrealized hatred is surfacing within her to inspire her actions. Real trouble arrives in the form of a man who is hiding out from the law. He rents the yellow fishing house closest to shore and contemplates suicide. A sadomasochistic chemistry develops between this unhappy man and the mute woman and their relationship facilitates a series of extremely violent sex and mutilation scenes which ultimately bring THE ISLE to its disturbing conclusion. [More]

Starring: Jae Hyun Cho, Hang-Seon Jang, Suh Jung, Seong-Hee Park

Starring: Jae Hyun Cho, Hang-Seon Jang, Suh Jung, Seong-Hee Park, Yoosuk Kim

Director: Kim Ki-Duk

Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Screenwriter: Kim Ki-Duk
Studio: Empire Pictures

[See More Credits]

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Release:

May 20, 2003

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Isle

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/18/08
Derek Elley
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
06/01/07
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

No review available.

comment Comment
08/21/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

A creepy, gruesome, gorgeous and flabbergasting treatise on romantic obsession and violent, nasty male-female relationships.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/04/05
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

It's the safest of bets that this is one Asian film that won't get a Hollywood remake.

Full Review Source: RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland) | comment Comment
10/08/04
Harry Guerin
RTE Interactive (Dublin, Ireland)

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
09/25/04
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
09/14/04
Nev Pierce
BBC
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/11/04
Empire Magazine

Spring, Summer fans should only have their appreciation of that film expanded by seeing this rougher take on similar themes.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/21/04
Mark Jenkins
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sushi for the connoisseurs of the macabre.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/29/03
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The evocative imagery and gentle, lapping rhythms of this film are infectious -- it gets under our skin and draws us in long before the plot kicks into gear.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
05/13/03
Rich Cline
Film Threat

If you can get past the fantastical aspects and harsh realities of “The Isle” you’ll get a sock-you-in-the-eye flick that is a visual tour-de-force and a story that is unlike any you will likely see anywhere else.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
03/20/03
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Ki-duk Kim has created a provocatively violent and sexual film with an oddly idyllic sensibility. It's a mysterious but ultimately rewarding experience.

Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
03/16/03
Laura Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Made me unintentionally famous — as the queasy-stomached critic who staggered from the theater and blacked out in the lobby. But believe it or not, it's one of the most beautiful, evocative works I've seen.

Full Review Source: Offoffoff | comment Comment
03/11/03
Joshua Tanzer
Offoffoff

Equal parts Takashi Miike and Shohei Imamura.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
02/12/03
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

Beautiful, angry and sad, with a curious sick poetry, as if the Marquis de Sade had gone in for pastel landscapes.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/31/03
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There is little question that this is a serious work by an important director who has something new to say about how, in the flip-flop of courtship, we often reel in when we should be playing out.

Full Review Source: San Jose Mercury News | comment Comment
01/16/03
Glenn Lovell
San Jose Mercury News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The vivid lead performances sustain interest and empathy, but the journey is far more interesting than the final destination.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/06/03
Joe Leydon
San Francisco Examiner
 
 
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