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The Isle (2002)
Tomatometer
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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.
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
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Reviews for The Isle
A creepy, gruesome, gorgeous and flabbergasting treatise on romantic obsession and violent, nasty male-female relationships.
It's the safest of bets that this is one Asian film that won't get a Hollywood remake.
Spring, Summer fans should only have their appreciation of that film expanded by seeing this rougher take on similar themes.
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.
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.
Ki-duk Kim has created a provocatively violent and sexual film with an oddly idyllic sensibility. It's a mysterious but ultimately rewarding experience.
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.
Beautiful, angry and sad, with a curious sick poetry, as if the Marquis de Sade had gone in for pastel landscapes.
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.
The vivid lead performances sustain interest and empathy, but the journey is far more interesting than the final destination.
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