and tearfully complains of the pain. The old monk tells him he will spend his life with the karma if he does not undo his misdeed. The boy grows to age 17. A young girl of the same age arrives at the temple to recuperate. The two fall in love. The old monk notices. The girl leaves. The boy is unable to let go of his deepening attachment and leaves the temple. Ten years pass. The boy, now an adult, arrives at the temple, fleeing the authorities after slaying his adulterous wife. The anger and pain are too much for him, and he attempts suicide in front of a statue of the Buddha. Set against the changing of the seasons, this film expresses Buddhist ideas through a minimum of dialogue and restrained performances. The lakebound temple in particular is like a beautiful painting. With this film, director Kim Ki-duk takes a step away from the violent, instinctually driven characters of his previous works to show a Zen meditator repenting of his worldly misdeeds. The film resulted in a successful transformation of the director’s image and earned him a strong following not just at home but overseas.
The Host Bong Joon-ho, 2006 Gang-du (Song Kang-ho) runs a snack stall on the Han riverside with his father (Byun Hee-bong). He has a daughter, Hyeon-seo (Ko A-sung), whom he loves deeply, but he is also somewhat slow and unreliable. One day, a mysterious creature comes up out of the river and starts attacking people. Gang-du tries to take Hyeon-seo
100 K-MOVIE The World’s Spotlight on Korean Film
K-MOVIE 내지.indd 100
2012-09-27 오후 3:31:40