Samaritan Girl

Starring:Ji-min Kwak, Yeo-reum Han, Eol Lee, Kwon Hyun-Min, Oh Young, Im Gyun-Ho, Lee Jong-Gil, Shin Taek-Ki, Jung-gi Park, Gul-seon Kim, Seung-won Seo, Yoo Jae-Ik, In-gi Jung, Jin-bae Jeon, Yook Sae-Jin
Director: Ki-duk Kim (II)
Studio: Tartan Video
Product Type: DVD

Customer Reviews:

The naïve dreams of the childhood and its fatal consequences! .......2007-04-16

"The Samaritan girl" is a very complex movie that must be seen, taking into account three levels; the first part turns around the childish vision of the world
where the prostitution is regarded by these girls as a trade, a goal by itself to make their dreams come true, that ticket that will allow them to travel, in search of new landscapes. The second part is the face of nastiness and repulsion of her friend once the tragedy happened, and the psychological device she will employ on order to achieve a personal vengeance. The third part is the expiation of her father who is a cop, and finds out the consequences of such abominable act. The final scene is am anthological metaphor, the camera progressively opens the objective and elevates itself leaving us before such dramatic end.

Kim Ki Duk has achieved an original proposal, without falling into easy concessions, there' s no overindulgence or melodramatic approach. It `s the life with all its merciless cruelness and horrid realism.

A powerful, bold and intense film that reveals many unsaid aspects of this delicate theme that many of us, simply overlook it.

Two cute girls and a plan gone awry.......2007-03-18

I justed watched SAMARITAN GIRL tonight. This Korean film, directed by Kim Ki-Duk, features Ji-Min Kwak as Yeo-jin, a high school girl who runs a small prostitution business with her friend Jae-young (played by the cute as a button Yeo-reum Han, acting here under the name Min-jeong Seo, according to Imdb.)

These two girls are best friends and seem to do everything together. To raise money so they can fly to Europe, Jae-young comes up with the prostitution idea. She sleeps with the clients and actually enjoys it, while Yeo-jin makes the arrangements and keeps the money. Things go bad one day when two cops follow Jae-young up to her liaison in a motel, and attempting to escape, jumps from the window to her death.

Yeo-jin is distraught at the loss of her best friend and beset with guilt over having the money entrusted to her. To alleviate her conscience, she arranges liaisons with Jae-young's clients to give back the money. However, when her father, a cop on the vice squad, discovers what she's up to, things take a dark turn for both himself and his daughter's customers.

This film seemed like several in one. It starts off as a story about the friendship of two school girls, turns into a tale of about guilt and redemption, and then turns into a story about revenge and a lack of communication. I'd like to have seen more of the friendship (with more screen time for Yeo-reum Han), and some things seem rather far-fetched, but it's a thought provoking film and I liked it overall.

The film is presented on DVD by Tartan Video and has one very serious flaw that I've never seen before on disc: for the last ten or fifteen minutes, there's a quite visible bar running vertically through the picture about a third of the way in from the left. It's as though I was watching a broadcast with a weak signal. I couldn't believe I was seeing such a thing. Did anybody at Tartan look at this transfer before committing it to disc? I'm thinking of writing them to say that, after seeing this, I must seriously question getting any more of their titles.

Otherwise, the film is presented at 1.78:1, widescreen enhanced. The picture is okay but not great - kind of on the dark side, and certainly not among the sharpest that I've seen. It is watchable, though. I listened to the DTS soundtrack, but it sounded like a regular stereo soundtrack with no special audio effects.

An interesting film, and I'd like to see more by this director, but the transfer problem at the end is unforgiveable.

Ratings: Film - 4 stars; DVD transfer - 2 stars

An Arthouse Masterpiece.......2006-11-27

KINDLY NOTE SOME MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

Samaria is probably the first arthouse movie to emerge from South Korea.

Upon viewing the cover of the Dvd, many will get the wrong impression that this is some exploitation Movie. This is definitely not the case. Actually this has got to be one of the most honest movies to tackle such a delicate subject without ever once being explicit.

The director could have easily spoilt the movie with graphic sex or nudity, but instead this very brave director (who actually won the award for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival) has managed to cross a message that is very important in our times without ever once embarrassing his audience. The movie is divided into 3 chapters, it opens with two girls chatting on the Internet with a complete stranger to meet for a date. Next we see a title on the screen which reads Vasumitra.

Vasumitra was a prostitute in India where legend has it that any man who slept with her turned into a devoted Buddhist! The director will further in the movie also mention other religious references. The name Vasumitra is the name that one of the girls will actually use as to disguise her identity. So begins the adventures of two teenage girls in the world of prostitution all for the sake to earn some easy money. An important shot at the very beginning of the movie after one of the girls has her first encounter with her client shows them eating a roasted pig's feet. Could this be a clear indication where these poor two girls are heading too, since the pig is considered by many, a filthy animal.

To further prove my point both the girls enter a bathhouse to wash. Describing what one of them just did was filthy. Next the girls run around in a park where they sit next to a line of statues of a complete family consisting of the mother father and children, which clearly shows they're longing to be part of a family.

Meanwhile one the girls is taking notes in her diary of every man she encounters. She sleeps in her tiny room soon, to be awakened by her father who is a detective!

He takes his daughter to school, and here again we hear another religious story this time about Jesus told by the father to his daughter.

Tragedy soon strikes and while one of the girls is busy with a client, the police raid the apartment. In a state of panic the girl has no idea what to do, and jumps out of the apartment window and falls to the ground, she is carried to the hospital by the detective's daughter but she is in a very serious condition and about to lose her life. Her friend persuades her to give her the diary and contact one of her clients, to visit her one last time before she dies. This is actually were the story takes a dramatic turn!

After her friend dies in hospital the detective's daughter starts visiting each client to return back the money her friend made from these men.

It is important to note that her friend was just there to look after her and take care of the money and had never encountered any clients up until now! Meanwhile here father is investigating a murder case and this is where he sees his own daughter in an opposite apartment with a client! Thus begins a story of revenge on each client, without the daughter ever knowing her father is actually one step behind her.

Revealing more would spoil this unique movie experience. The direction is superb and the haunting score literally pulls you in the mood of the story. I have no hesitation in highly recommending this movie to serious moviegoers. I would like to applaud Ki-duk Kim for making such an honest movie about a very serious subject.

Ki-duk Kim has truly made an amazing arthouse Masterpiece.

Thought Provoking... For Sure.......2006-06-12

In Samaritan Girl Kim Ki-duk once again asks us to ponder deeply into complicated space of the human psyche. Two young girls set out on a mission to save money for a holiday. When one of the adventures goes horribly wrong, the young girl turned prostitute commits suicide, forcing her best friend and partner in crime (who is also her manager, and arguably her lesbian lover) to seek a sense of atonement. Jae-yeong's (Seo Min-jeong) is not bothered by and even attempts to connect with her clients on a personal and human level. Her best friend and manager Yeo-Jin (Kwak Ji-min) at first resists but later sets out to "do the right thing" by servicing those very same clients and then returning the money they paid to be serviced by Jae-yeong. The reason for this is not fully explained. Guilty perhaps and not wanting to benefit from the "ill-gotten" wealth, one gets the sense that the burning of the money would have done the trick. The story is elevated several levels when Yeo-Jin's father - a police officer (Lee Eol) witnesses an encounter and is forced to deal with the issue - not just as a professional but as a father. The turbulent emotions and reactions set the stage for arguably the most complex issues set out in the movie - for that alone, the movie is worth watching. After Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, Kim Ki-duk sticks with the more "forgiving" mode, oddly juxtaposing the short moment of happiness as Jae-yeong gives of herself to the men around her and martyrs herself in order to free Yeo-Jin, who in turn has to whore herself to restore serenity to the world vis-à-vis the heavy handed retribution leveled at the johns by Yeo-Jins father. One is almost reminded of the sexual encounter in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring where a young monk and the young woman are both "liberated" through their "encounter" only to be subjected to suffering caused by a sense of attachment that leave both, more troubled. Honestly though, one is left troubled by the target of the existential consideration - children. Arguably, by subjecting the man to his daughter's whoring, Kim Ki-duk does in an odd sort of way bring the two closer - the father does not REALLY know his daughter. It is really difficult to figure out what Kim Ki-duk is trying to do here.

Miguel Llora

Experiencing Kim Ki-Duk.......2005-08-30

MOVIE: 5/5
I won't bother saying what the movie is about as you can read the synopsis provided by the editor above.

Kim Ki-Duk as a film maker has a real talent in effortlessly establishing his characters and relationships which are vital in moving his movies forward. The development he creates in a single scene without dialogue, other directors fail to do within entire movies. In essence, he is efficient because he understands human behaviour and the power of subtlety. Others may find the lack of onscreen activity boring but I can't help feel fascinated and completely drawn in with each passing minute of this movie.

This is not a movie for everyone and it is by no means a happy one. It is at times sad, depressing, and revolting. But it is hard not to come away with some emotional investment with either of the main characters. At the core, I believe the same thing is driving both main characters (the father and daughter), that being nobility, but here we see how being noble leads to suffering. I have only seen one other Kim Ki-Duk movie (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring) but both have left an everlasting impression.

If you are a fan of Kim Ki-Duk or Korean cinema, I highly recommend this.

DVD: 2/5
There is no reason why this movie should look the way it does given how recent it is. It's not the worse, but certainly far from perfect. The video transfer is inconsistent and it looks like it came from a less than perfect print. At the start, I couldn't help but feel a little distracted by all the nicks in the print. I eventually got use to it and the transfer does improve in the middle section of the movie. I found the transfer to be quite soft throughout. And towards the end, there is a barely noticable vertical band in many scenes. Like I said, its barely noticeable but distracting somewhat.
The Dolby Digital/DTS mixes are pretty much identical. It is a front heavy mix which is appropriate for the subject matter. The surrounds do chime in but are reserved primarily for ambient sounds. There are no worthwhile extras which is unfortunate.

Description

To fulfill their dreams of traveling to Europe, two teenage girls Yeo-jin (Ji-min Kwak) and Jae-young (Min-jeog Seo) start a prostitution business. Yeo-jin handles the business side, while Jae-young "entertains" the customers. When Jae-young is accidentally killed during a police raid, Yeo-jin locates their clients in an act of penance, sleeping with them to return their money. Yeo-jin's father (Eol Lee) stumbles onto her secret and takes revenge on her lovers. At a crossroads, father and daughter embark on a desperate trip in the hope of gaining absolution and redemption.

Customer Reviews:

The naïve dreams of the childhood and its fatal consequences! .......2007-04-16

Two cute girls and a plan gone awry.......2007-03-18

An Arthouse Masterpiece.......2006-11-27

Thought Provoking... For Sure.......2006-06-12

Experiencing Kim Ki-Duk.......2005-08-30

MOVIE: 5/5
I won't bother saying what the movie is about as you can read the synopsis provided by the editor above.

If you are a fan of Kim Ki-Duk or Korean cinema, I highly recommend this.

OVERALL:4/5
Despite a less than stellar DVD, I'm still giving this release a 4/5 because the movie more than makes up for its technical shortcoming's as a DVD.

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