After Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk has made a second coming with a religious allegory on film. But far from being preachy, which would be unlikely to anyone familiar with Kim's previous works, Samaritan Girl is a quiet, yet powerful film full of sex and violence.
While Spring sets its background in a Buddhist temple in a remote mountain, Samaritan Girl is set in the urban chaos of Seoul and intends to talk about Christianity by presenting a realistic contemporary story about teen prostitution.
High school girls Yeo Jin and Jae Young are best friends, in a relationship that leans perhaps more toward lesbian love than friendship. To raise money for their European vacation they start a prostitution business. The cute and smiley Yeo Jin solicits clients from the internet and sleeps with them. Online she adopts the name Vasumitra, after a prostitute who turned men into devoted Buddhists by sleeping with them. And the reserved and aloof Jae Young takes charge of money and schedules and also watches out for police in front of the motels where Yeo Jin
PHOTOS COURTESY OF HWA-JAAN FILMS
entertains customers.
Then, Jae Young shirks her responsibility, causing Yeo Jin to be chased by the police. To avoid capture Yeo Jin jumps out a window. On her deathbed, Yeo Jin asks to see one of her clients one last time. Jae Young tracks the man down, but he only agrees on the condition that he gets to sleep with Jae Young. When the two arrive at the hospital after Jae Young submits to his demand, it's already too late.
Jae Young decides upon an unusual way to wash herself of guilt -- she finds each of Yeo Jin's clients and sleeps with them, and then returns the cash to the johns that Yeo Jin earned from them.
Compared with Kim's previous works such as The Isle (2000) and Bad Guy (2001), Samaritan Girl is milder visually. It is also a quieter film with little dialogue. But the silence amplifies the drama that evolves. Distortion of human minds and the uncontrollable destiny are still the main themes.
While Jae Young tries to find peace in her sexual atonement, things take another dramatic turn. Her police detective father spots her and transforms from a mild-mannered and loving father into a violent and brutal man.
Kim has a philosophy and fine arts background and a Catholic upbringing which shows in this story about sin, absolution and redemption. The movie should make Kim a strong candidate for a Silver Bear at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.
Screening Theaters: Majestic Cinema 7F, 116, Hanzhong Street, Taipei (台北市漢中街116號7樓) and Spring Cinema, 10F, 52 Hanzhong Street, Taipei (台北市漢中街52號10樓)
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