646f9e108c In Seoul, the thirty and something year-old bank clerk Hae-Won is a heartless and selfish single woman that tramples on coworkers and clients. He boss orders her to take vacation since she is stressed and Hae-Won decides to spend a week on her grandfather's hometown in the primitive and tiny Moodo Island. She is welcomed by her childhood friend Kim Bok-nam that lives in the island and treats Hae-Won with great affection. Bok-nam is an abused woman that works like a slave, married with the brutal and stupid Man-jong and has a little daughter Kim Yeon-hee. The four Man-jong's aunties and his brother also abuses of Bok-nam and Man-jong's catatonic father also live in Moodo. Bok-nam asks her friend if she could go with her daughter to Seoul with her but Hae-Won refuses the request. Then Bok-nam begs to Hae-Won to take her daughter with her, but she also refuses. Soon Bok-nam finds that her husband is having sex with her daughter and she decides to flee from the island with Yeon-hee. However Man-jong discovers and beats her and her daughter, but Yeon-hee hits her head on a stone and dies. When the police inspector arrives in Moodo, Man-jong and his family lie to him telling that it was an accident and Hae-Won's testimony is not supported by the indifferent Bok-nam that claims that was sleeping. When Man-jong and his brother go to the mainland, Bok-nam has a breakdown and uses a cleaver to kill her hateful aunties. What will she do next?
Hae-won is a beautiful single woman in her thirties who works at a bank in the Seoul city. She leads a busy life until she becomes a witness to an attempted murder case, and at the same time, things get complicated at work. When things get out of hand she is forced to take a vacation so she heads for 'Moodo', a small undeveloped island, where she had once visited to see her grandparents. And where she had befriended a girl named Bok-nam who stills writes to Hae-won asking her to visit despite the fact that Hae-won never bothered to reply. Upon arriving at the island, Hae-won is shocked to see everyone treating Bok-nam like a slave. As practically the only young woman on the island, she is a plaything for all the men and a free laborer for the women. Sick of all the inhumane treatment, Bok-nam had tried to escape the island several times in the past but had failed each time. She begs Hae-won to help her escape the place, but Hae-won remains indifferent not wanting to be involved in complicated situations. When Bok-nam realizes that her own daughter will follow her footsteps, she tries to escape the island with her daughter.
I went into this expecting a supernatural horror of some sort solely based on the title. What I got instead was a terrifying, powerful movie in regards to the emotional toll its depicted mental, physical, and sexual abuse take. The movie has an amazing build up, garnering much sympathy for Bok-nam before anything commonly defined as "horror" starts, and it ends up being the scariest part of the movie.<br/><br/>The director, Jang Cheol-soo, has worked as an assistant director for Kim Ki-duk, and the movie is reminiscent of him in many ways. It revolves around women ready to snap and evil men. One of the most obvious connections is the very ending, which is practically the ending of The Isle in reverse. A woman becomes an island, rather than an island becoming a woman.<br/><br/>What's really scary is that anyone could do this to you if they wanted. They could knock you out, take you home, tie you up, and abuse you however they wanted with you having no way to get free. Not everyone is born on a remote island where it's easier to do so with no fear of the law, and it's interesting to think about how much the fear of the police may hamper this. It obviously doesn't for some people. Watch the news. That could be you.
It is difficult to describe the movie. Actually to describe what is attractive and/or exciting about the movie for me. You could say that it begins more than slow, but will build up and be very disturbing toward the end. I'm not gonna give anything away from the story, but if you have seen some Korean movies, you might know what you are getting yourself into here! <br/><br/>It is sort of a character study and a very weird and dark social commentary to (if you want it to be). I liked the group dynamic, I liked the grey tones, I liked that it was different. I can't guarantee though that you will like it. And it might not be the ideal choice to start getting to know Korean cinema. I'm sure though that somewhere along the line, there is an US Remake waiting to happen (if they can pull it off ... they don't seem to be able to do so with Old Boy either).