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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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