Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
Product Description
Kim Ki-duk is without question one of the world s most talented directors who has produced a succession of critically acclaimed pictures that have ranged from the controversial Bad Guy to the stunning Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring. On a fishing boat out at sea, a 60 year old man has raised a young girl since she was just a baby. Living a sheltered life, they earn a living by renting their boat out to local fisherman and spend their time performing divination ceremonies. As the girl approaches her seventeenth birthday, the age she has agreed to marry her companion, her life is thrown into chaos with the arrival of a young man who quickly falls for her. Captivating and beautifully shot, The Bow is another high class offering from a prolific yet hugely eclectic director. Special Features: - The Making Of The Bow - Original Theatrical Trailer - Film Notes
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Kim Ki-Duk is a very prolific director, and sometimes falls short as a result of it, but this is a perfectly realised fable. It's not a film to be approached in any spirit of realism, except Magic Realism.
I won't go through the plot which is summarised elsewhere, but its simplicity allows for a kind of poetry of composition and a wonderfully fluent deliberate pacing which is quite hypnotic. As mentioned elsewhere, there is very little dialogue, and the heroine's silence (and almost impossible beauty) gives her a kind of mystery and allure which resonates beyond the immediate.
I don't see the lack of dialogue as any kind of weakness. The two central characters have lived together on a tiny boat for ten years, they have gone beyond words, and so when the cracks appear with the appearance of Youth, Progress, "Civilisation", at the time they might need words, they can't find them. This fuels the tragedy.
Kim revisits themes and situations he had previously used in "The Isle" The Isle [2000], a more extremely violent movie, but there are arbitrary plot elements there and a kind of glib pessimism about the impossibility of love. Here love and growth are painful, but possible, and the final renunciation by the old man is - yes - magical, as Age gives way to Youth, as it surely must.
A beautifully crafted and coherent vision, made with the most economical of means, a handful of actors, a single location. The images will stay with you.
This went straight into my personal Top Ten Best Films ever, replacing Kurasawa's "Throne of Blood". Yes, it's that good.
I won't go through the plot which is summarised elsewhere, but its simplicity allows for a kind of poetry of composition and a wonderfully fluent deliberate pacing which is quite hypnotic. As mentioned elsewhere, there is very little dialogue, and the heroine's silence (and almost impossible beauty) gives her a kind of mystery and allure which resonates beyond the immediate.
I don't see the lack of dialogue as any kind of weakness. The two central characters have lived together on a tiny boat for ten years, they have gone beyond words, and so when the cracks appear with the appearance of Youth, Progress, "Civilisation", at the time they might need words, they can't find them. This fuels the tragedy.
Kim revisits themes and situations he had previously used in "The Isle" The Isle [2000], a more extremely violent movie, but there are arbitrary plot elements there and a kind of glib pessimism about the impossibility of love. Here love and growth are painful, but possible, and the final renunciation by the old man is - yes - magical, as Age gives way to Youth, as it surely must.
A beautifully crafted and coherent vision, made with the most economical of means, a handful of actors, a single location. The images will stay with you.
This went straight into my personal Top Ten Best Films ever, replacing Kurasawa's "Throne of Blood". Yes, it's that good.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
As a piece of cinema, "The Bow" stands somewhere between two of Ki-duk Kim's other water-based films, "The Isle" and "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring" ... Beautiful cinematography, intense emotional conflict and the gradual unwinding of an unexpected resolution link all three films. "The Bow", however, lacks a certain punch in comparison to the dark menace of "The Isle"; and whereas "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Spring" follows a reasonably conventional (Buddhist?) plot-line, "The Bow" has a certain tendency to meander along without seeming to know where its going. In the film's favour, it's exactly the right length: the final denouement comes just as one might have become impatient. And "The Bow" excels in its use of colour and contrast: in this particular respect, it outstrips just about every other cinematic offering from Korea (or anywhere else, for that matter). The soundtrack is evocative, without ever convincing - that music could never be produced by such a makeshift instrument! 'Suspension of disbelief' is one thing; taking the viewer for granted, quite another. So, all in all, I can only judge that Kim's "The Bow" pleases without really hitting the mark.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Kim Ki-duk continues to prove himself one of the most daring directors around. A truly wonderful, evocative movie. For much ofits running time it's silent, the 2 main characters don't even speak for the length of the movie. A classic example of 'show-don't tell.' Daring and imaginative but with a coherent story to tell. An adult fairytale. Buy, watch and then watch again. Easily one of the best movies of the 21st century so far....A good companion piece to Ki-duks equally amazing '3 Iron'.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
