Some people say Kim Ki-duk makes films based on the aesthetics of cruelty. Others say he reveals himself as a misogynist in his works. Whenever a film of his is shown at an international film festival, there are always people leaving the cinema in the middle, because of the extreme violence or the controversial material.
Earlier this year, when Kim's Bad Guy was shown in Berlin, a Korean living there came up to him to say that the film was a disgrace to the Korean people. Korean women's groups have also protested against the film.
But Kim, as a director, is uncompromising.
"My films are vile films. But if you see one of my films for the first time and you feel hurt in your heart, that means you are a kindhearted person," Kim said while visiting Taipei for the Golden Horse Film Festival on Tuesday.
Bad Guy (2002) is Kim's second most recent film. It tells the story of an innocent college girl who has her life distorted by a gangster.
The gangster is Han Gi. He sees the girl on the street with her boyfriend and abruptly kisses her. He is subsequently humiliated by the girl, the crowd and the boyfriend. In retaliation, he sets up a scheme to entrap the girl into prostitution. Every night he watches her through a secret mirror as she is molested by men. Eventually she abandons herself to the life of a prostitute and her desires and fate become intertwined with Han Gi's.
"I wanted to let two people from different social classes meet. A normal person, [like the girl] and Han Gi, who is seen as a failure. They can also communicate," said Kim.
For Kim, Korean society is a predominantly upward-looking society. People often care too much about questions of face. But covering the dirty side of Korean life is definitely not Kim's way of making movies.
"For me, to dig out the cruel reality, to reveal the ugliness about desire and fate is more important. You have to do this if you want to make the world better," he said.
This probably explains why in Kim's eight films, there are always gangsters and prostitutes. He has spent much time interviewing people on Seoul's "hooker's streets." "The vivid life of gangsters and prostitutes contains more cinematic glamor for me," Kim said.
Kim is one of the few filmmakers who distinguish themselves from the majority of Hollywood-style Korean moviemakers. This prolific director always writes his own scripts. And since 1996, he has written and directed nine films. Beautiful cinematography, bizarre plots and distorted human relations are common features in his films. His 1999 work, The Isle, depicts a strange island on a beautiful lake that is a fishing ground in the daytime and a brothel at night. A scene in which a woman's private parts are caught on a fishhook was so shocking that people threw up when the film was shown at the Venice Film Festival. But this doesn't stop Kim from being invited to international film festivals. The Isle and Bad Guy still received standing ovations from European audiences and critics.
Having little filmmaking education, Kim spent his youth working in factories and serving in the marines. He said his three years in France studying painting brought him into contact people from different social classes, cultures and nationalities. It also gave him the chance to watch many European films, such as those by Yugoslav director Emir Kusturica and Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky.
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