
The Isle
2000, Drama, 1h 29m
36 Reviews 5,000+ RatingsWhat to know
critics consensus
A compelling and oddly haunting combination of brutal and beautiful imagery. Read critic reviews
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Movie Info
Cast & Crew

Hee-Jin
Hyun-Shik
Eun-A

Middle-aged man
Mang-Chee
Director
Critic Reviews for The Isle
All Critics (36) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (8)
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A creepy, gruesome, gorgeous and flabbergasting treatise on romantic obsession and violent, nasty male-female relationships.
May 4, 2005 | Rating: B- | Full Review… -
Quote not available.
September 14, 2004 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… -
Spring, Summer fans should only have their appreciation of that film expanded by seeing this rougher take on similar themes.
May 21, 2004 | Full Review… -
Beautiful, angry and sad, with a curious sick poetry, as if the Marquis de Sade had gone in for pastel landscapes.
January 31, 2003 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review… -
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.
January 16, 2003 | Rating: 3/4 -
A gorgeous and grotesque Korean film by director Kim Ki-Duk, who seems torn by his artistic and exploitive impulses.
January 3, 2003 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…
Audience Reviews for The Isle
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Jan 20, 2013A mute woman who runs a fishing resort becomes obsessed with a suicidal fugitive hiding out in one of the floating cabins. A bizarre, perverted sadomasochistic love story in a unique setting; animal lovers may feel like boycotting this one, though.Greg S Super Reviewer
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Nov 10, 2011Kim Ki-duk serves up another dark and twisted love-story themed film set on a fishing lake where a mute woman and a man with a troubled past find attraction with eachother. The movie is very picturesque and beautiful to look at at times, then we have some rather unpleasant scenes that add the disturbing quality to it all. There's a couple of very nasty moments of self-harm involving fish hooks and moments of animal cruelty - fish mutilated, a drowning finch, a dog takes a beating and a frog gets ripped apart. I wouldn't really describe this as an erotic film at all, yes there are sex scenes but they are not romantic and the majority of them are done fully clothed without any titilation. The acting was very good all round, especially by the mute woman, a little bit more background on the male character would have been nice though. But I was really hooked from the start with this one despite the slowness of it all and the very little dialogue. I enjoyed it more than "Bad Guy".Lee ? Super Reviewer
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Apr 14, 2011Unforgettable quotes and dialogues... No, no, wait. The movie speaks volumes through its silence... Damn it. FML that I happen to stumble upon such films these days around.familiar s Super Reviewer
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Jul 17, 2009This is definitely not a film for all tastes. The Isle not only shows some of the most disturbing images on film ( animal mistreatment) but it also makes the viewer work hard to figure out what it all about. Specially the very last scene which I think was put there for each viewer to make they're own interpretation.There is so little dialogue that this is almost like a silent film.. There's people violence in the film too, there are some cruel moments in the film, and there's a good deal of dark intrigue.The film just didn't seem quite meaningful to me. I could certainly have done with more dialogue and more compelling characters, this would have helped me understand more of what the film was trying to say. I did not like it. Not my type of film.Daisy M Super Reviewer
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