Editorial Review:

Description:
(Foreign/Drama) A sixty year old man has been raising a young girl since she was six years old and plans to marry her next month when she turns seventeen. Living their lives together on a fishing boat, he is very protective of her and will gladly put an arrow into anyone who touches her. She’s content with her life until a young man shows up and introduces her to a world beyond - which changes everything.

A man in his sixties, who lives on a boat which sits in the ocean many miles off the coast of Korea, kidnaps a six-year-old girl and keeps her as a prisoner for ten years, planning to marry her on her seventeenth birthday, after which they will continue to live on his boat. She is a beautiful girl who wears scanty clothes, even on cold, windy days. Every evening she sits naked in a tub of warm water, smiling sensuously, while the old man "lovingly" washes her. He makes his living bringing men to his boat who want to fish on the weekend. Most of the men assume that the nubile girl is the man's granddaughter, but that doesn't deter them from making sexual advances toward her, or even from attempting to rape her. Luckily, the old man and the girl easily foil these advances with the skillful use of bows and arrows.

But one day, a month shy of the wedding, a nice, handsome young man comes to the boat and things get complicated. He and the wordless girl instantly like each other, and a little research on the mainland reveals that the girl's parents have been looking for their missing daughter for ten years. But instead of bringing the police to the boat, the young man comes back alone and asks the old man to let her go, saying that he is being selfish and unfair to her. He doesn't agree - surprise! - but he finally agrees to let her go.

Just when it looks like the girl is going back to the mainland to reunite with her parents and have a normal life, the old man tries to kill himself and the girl decides to marry him after all - out of love, gratitude, or pity I do not know. They marry themselves in a self-serve ceremony, with the young man as a witness. After the wedding, the old man plays the erhu, serenading his child-wife to sleep. He then dives into the ocean and drowns himself, but his ghost comes back in the form of an arrow and proceeds to consummate the marriage, with the young man watching as the girl writhes and moans, finishing with a bright red stain of conjugal blood on her virginal white gown.

I won't argue with anyone who says that this is an art film. It is a film of moods, emotions, and compelling visual images. But let's be honest and admit that it comes down to a child porn fantasy, that doesn't cross any legal lines. The old man doesn't really care about the girl and he is obviously sexually obsessed with her, and in a very calculated and evil way he has fashioned the girl to be naive, innocent, compliant, and sensual - the perfect sort of girl that a child molester dreams about. I am amazed that no other reviewer has pointed out this aspect of the film, and no amount of "artsiness" or "genius" can hide it.

Do I have a dirty, cynical mind and am I missing the whole point, or the whole metaphor, of this story? I don't think so, if you consider that this film reminded me of another foreign film which is one of my favorites, and has a similar theme - Woman of the Dunes, a 1964 Japanese film. I welcome comments from those who disagree with me, but I would ask that you watch Woman of the Dunes first.

Average Rating:

Rating: - Child porn fantasy
A man in his sixties, who lives on a boat which sits in the ocean many miles off the coast of Korea, kidnaps a six-year-old girl and keeps her as a prisoner for ten years, planning to marry her on her seventeenth birthday, after which they will continue to live on his boat. She is a beautiful girl who wears scanty clothes, even on cold, windy days. Every evening she sits naked in a tub of warm water, smiling sensuously, while the old man "lovingly" washes her. He makes his living bringing men to his boat who want to fish on the weekend. Most of the men assume that the nubile girl is the man's granddaughter, but that doesn't deter them from making sexual advances toward her, or even from attempting to rape her. Luckily, the old man and the girl easily foil these advances with the skillful use of bows and arrows.

But one day, a month shy of the wedding, a nice, handsome young man comes to the boat and things get complicated. He and the wordless girl instantly like each other, and a little research on the mainland reveals that the girl's parents have been looking for their missing daughter for ten years. But instead of bringing the police to the boat, the young man comes back alone and asks the old man to let her go, saying that he is being selfish and unfair to her. He doesn't agree - surprise! - but he finally agrees to let her go.

Just when it looks like the girl is going back to the mainland to reunite with her parents and have a normal life, the old man tries to kill himself and the girl decides to marry him after all - out of love, gratitude, or pity I do not know. They marry themselves in a self-serve ceremony, with the young man as a witness. After the wedding, the old man plays the erhu, serenading his child-wife to sleep. He then dives into the ocean and drowns himself, but his ghost comes back in the form of an arrow and proceeds to consummate the marriage, with the young man watching as the girl writhes and moans, finishing with a bright red stain of conjugal blood on her virginal white gown.

I won't argue with anyone who says that this is an art film. It is a film of moods, emotions, and compelling visual images. But let's be honest and admit that it comes down to a child porn fantasy, that doesn't cross any legal lines. The old man doesn't really care about the girl and he is obviously sexually obsessed with her, and in a very calculated and evil way he has fashioned the girl to be naive, innocent, compliant, and sensual - the perfect sort of girl that a child molester dreams about. I am amazed that no other reviewer has pointed out this aspect of the film, and no amount of "artsiness" or "genius" can hide it.

Do I have a dirty, cynical mind and am I missing the whole point, or the whole metaphor, of this story? I don't think so, if you consider that this film reminded me of another foreign film which is one of my favorites, and has a similar theme - Woman of the Dunes, a 1964 Japanese film. I welcome comments from those who disagree with me, but I would ask that you watch Woman of the Dunes first.

Rating: - Missed the mark
Compared to Kim Ki Duk's incredible 3-IRON, and even compared to the lesser SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND SPRING -- this is a disappointment. While, once again, the 2 main characters don't talk, the supporting characters are relative chatterboxes which makes the silence of the 2 main characters seem unjustified (in fact, the writer cheats by having them whisper a couple times in someone's ear).

Like Kim Ki Duk's other movies, the heart of the plot integrates very questionable ethics with hardly any guilty feedback. This is more noticeable in this film. As are the implausibilities. Ultimately, this film was too vague and the final act too mystical and symbolic to be satisfying for me.

While the acting by the old man is good, the the young actress had no depth.

I'll give it 3 stars cuz it kept my interest up by successfully conveying the emotional struggle -- and it was imaginative. That'll be enuf to keep me interested in Kim's other works -- but more for style than content.

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Rating: - A solid genius of cinema!
Kim Ki Duk has achieved a prominent status as talented, sensitive and magisterial filmmaker due its proposed works, that really have specific weight and allude visibly to those arcane stories, hovered and permeated by a clear inspiration of the traditional Eastern legends.

An old fisherman picks up a girl since her early childhood, becoming his reason of daily inspiration and living. The time has come and now she is an alluring teenager; however he has decided toe establish the day of marriage for the next three weeks. Both of them in a boat, in the middle of the sea and he always leaves in the boat just to get the elemental supplies.

But the love will make its appearance when a young boy, accidentally comes. The old man is aware of her visible change and reject to him.

So, with that simple premise "The bow" will emerge with all its visual splendor without letting us to know what they are talking because the fisherman and the girl don't say a word and only communicate through signals, unhearing whispers and expressive sights.

One of the most beautiful films that I've ever seen and certainly one of the most pyramidal and poetic movies of this raising century. it's useless to affirm we are in presence of a landmark classic of the cinema.

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Rating: - Beautiful!
Another masterpiece from Korean director Ki Duk! If you haven't seen some of his previous works than I highly suggest that you do. Kim Ki Duk's film are mood driven pieces and you always feel the emotion he brings. Like his last couple of flicks there really isn't that much dialouge from his main charachters. He tells the story through emotions and you feel the charachter's pain, joy, and loss. The story is of a man who wants to wed a younger female. He is a fortune teller and he knows that his time is almost up. I sat in awe the entire time watching this film. The soundtrack is worth the price of admission. The film is in DTS and the transfer is beautiful! Very similar in ways to 3 IRON and SPRING SUMMER!

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Rating: - waste of time
I have watched many movies in my life and I can say without a hesitation that this movie is one of the worse movies I have ever seen. What makes me sick is that the director thinks it's an art. What was he thinking? I don't see how anyone in the right mind can say this movie is worth watching? I don't normally make comments but after watching this movie I felt the urge to make a comment. I have wasted my time watching this movie, please if you value your money or your time, DON'T WATCH IT.

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