DVD
The Bow

Starring: Han Yeo-reum and Jeon Seong-hwang
Tartan DVD
RRP: £19.99
TVD3712
Certificate: 18
Available 13 August 2007


For more than a decade the old man and the girl have lived on a boat that never touches land and for all the limitations that this implies they seem happy. The old man, in his sixties, has been raising the girl since she was six with the intention of marrying her when she reaches sixteen. Although the girl's world is bound by the dimensions of the boat she remains blissfully uninterested in the wider world around her, that is, until a young man arrives, bringing a wider perspective, opening the girl's eyes and heart to other possibilities. With time running out and the girl's dissatisfaction growing will the old man be able to see his wishes come to fruition or will the winds of change destroy them both?...

The Bow (Hwal 2005) was written and directed by one of South Korea's best film makers, Kim Ki-Duk, who had previously written the superb The Isle. The film is all the more impressive as it contains little in the way of dialogue. In fact Yeo-reum Han who plays the young girl - and also appears in Kim's Samaritan Girl - has no dialogue at all, having to rely on looks and gestures to carry her part of the narrative - something which she does extremely well.

The film portrays the gradual transition from an innocent, almost spiritual, love that has grown up between the old man, played by Gook-hwan Jeon, and the girl, due to their relative isolation from the rest of the world, to something more complex and possibly unsustainable. The catalyst for this is the introduction of the student (nobody in the film has actual names) played by Si-Jeok Seo, who takes a romantic interest in the girl and introduces her to modern music and the possibility of change.

The student's desire to rescue her from what he sees as immoral captivity seems, at first, altruistic, however his motivation can also be called into question and, in the end, all that his good intentions bring is unhappiness. The old man's protectiveness towards the girl is often misinterpreted by the leering fishermen that rent his boat and Kim allows this ambiguity between perversion and protectiveness to remain unanswered.

The old man is not above threatening the fishermen with the bow, which at times becomes an instrument of violence at other times is turned into a musical bow on which the old man plays beautiful music to the girl. It is the centre piece which represents both sides of his feelings for and about the girl; it is also used as a potent sexual symbol.

In The Bow, Kim has moved back to the minimalism and abstract symbology which made The Isle so successful. What sounds on paper a dull affair is far from it, the cinematography is sumptuous, with the frame full of vibrant colours and the overall effect is both beautiful and graceful. The film music adds to the overall lyrical feeling of the film.

The anamorphic print is pristine and beautiful to look at. Audio is either, Korean stereo, 5.1 or DTS and if for nothing else the film should be played in DTS to get the best out of the magnificent score. You get the option of English subtitles, but as the film has little in the way of dialogue it shouldn't put any one off who hates subtitles.

On the Extras you get a Kim-ki Duk trailer reel for Bad Guy, The Coast Guard and Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, the Original Theatrical Trailer and a Behind the Scenes feature.

Watching the film was a delightful experience. Some may find it a little slow, but if you allow yourself to be immersed in the small world of the old man and the girl, then the experience is rewarding.

Charles Packer

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£14.99 (Amazon.co.uk)
   
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£11.99 (Play.com)
   
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£13.47 (Thehut.com)

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