Coast Guard (2005)

Not Ki-Duk's worst, but not his best either.

Kim-Ku Duk's sparse, poetic and surreal film about the human cost of the North-South Korean border tensions is at times among his best work and and other times among his most unfocused. The photography is very beautiful throughout, and the first half is very strong, if not exactly original. The second half, however, is both heartbreaking and maddening, beautiful and confused. The surreal overtones begin to take over and the film, through its two main characters, descends into madness. Eventually, the film loses its way and it often feels like what happens could be happening anywhere, to anyone, which makes the border setting superfluous. Still, even ammongst the flaws there is much beauty to behold. Kim-Ki Duk is certainly an artist with a sure hand who always makes the film he wants. It is up to the audience to decided if it is also the film they want. It would make an interesting companion piece to JSA (Joint Security Area) as both are very different takes on the same situation.