The Isle

The Isle is quite an interesting tale to say the least. But how interesting is a little hard to explain, but here's what I got out of it.Minor spoilersthe isle is a tale of detachment and how sometimes trauma can instigate it, it also expresses detachment in more nuanced ways. it starts with a young woman who mans a boat ferrying clients like fishermen to what appears to be a floating group of small motels each detached from the others, among other services she offers food, drinks and sex. All this she does without a word, but within her likely from her history of "services" is a hidden coldness, a dark side, just out of sight to all who is acquainted to her. Until a young man arrives whom she ferries into a yellow floathouse. He has a traumatic past of his own, and he tries to escape it in the river motels. But something draws the two characters for better or for worse. On the isle would he descend to detachment or find a hidden paradise?The film did a decent portrayal of how little "traumas" can create detachment but also have enough nuance to ask the question was she already detached from the beginning? The cinematography is also done quite well. And there's some interesting symbolism behind some of the props.If I'm going to criticize it a bit. It would have to be with the male lead. I felt his character wasn't fleshed out enough. At least in his backstory. What i thought was maybe a history of him seemed like a random flashback that didn't have a strong enough attachment to add to his all-round story. Also the ending is a wtf ending, with a surreal "symbolism", in reality it doesn't make sense, but symbolically it somewhat does.If it allows i would like given it a 3.5 star rating.

I was looking for something different and found it. I do not know how closely this mirrors actual Korean morals but it made an interesting film. Much information about what is going on seems to be left out. I guess Koreans know what happens at isolated float cabins so no explanation is necessary. The men are all coarse and somewhat violent. The female lead is very good in her roll as the silent proprietor of the small camp. It is gory in disturbing ways so be warned. Still a though provoking foreign film. With sub titles I watched it on my computer with the sound off. Very little dialogue, their actions are the story.

I actually liked it for some reason. Although at first it was rather slow, there is a bit of dialog but not much. It might take a while for you to understand what is going on. It is a very dark movie and it has some disturbing scenes. And the synopsis is a bit misleading, while there is tension, there is not one scene which could be considered erotic, whlie there are a few sex scenes only one of them has both parties involved as willing. A weird and dark movie.

Gruesome, surreal, and gorgeous. All of these words perfectly describe the Korean film "The Isle." This film features amazingly beautiful scenery and imagery which is painful to watch. A man with a disturbing past seeks sanctuary from the law, and his own demons. He comes to a lake where a woman delivers fishermen and other visitors to small, floating rooms, accessable only by boat. She brings them supplies and prostitutes, and even sells herself to her visitors. She performs all of these duties without a word. When she and her reclusive boarder become entangled in a very disturbing love affair, sex, murder, suicide attempts, and mutilation follow. This film is not to be undertaken by the light-of-heart. The film's director is known for depicting inhuman brutality and horrors on screen, and is known to be quite a sick fellow in general. He's also known to be a talented film-maker, by those who can sit through his films without becoming ill. This is an excellent film, but not one for the squemish. If you think you can sit through the film's more disturbing scenes, then you're in for a very disturbing treat.

This film is beautiful and intriguing.It defies any simple classification into the usual categories of films. Some reviewers call it a "horror" story, which it is not. It is in fact much more than that. It presents madness in a beautiful seductive way which is much more true to real life. The story is told "straight". There is no attempt to explain what one is seeing in this film, which adds to the intrigue. This is a great film. I have watched it many times and will continue to do so. One cannot get the true essence of this story with only one viewing.A masterpiece, to my mind!There are no laughs and little sexual tittilation going on in this work. Bits of it stick in one's mind, however.This is not just another Asian exploitation film. Watch it at you peril!Available from Amazon .com

Dark Erotica about a guy who lives on a (very small) house boat, and has a brutal relationship with the girl that runs the general store on shore. You need a strong stomach when it comes to this Asian movie. it contains self inflicted pain, especially with fish hooks.

Very well done. Had me interested from the opening scene. I was pleasantly shocked by several choices of direction with the story.

I was taken in at first but than it just dragged on. Erotic?? Stunning?? Not so much but I watched it from beginning to end. It could of went in to more detail on their life before all this, I mean it went back to violent memories but I feel it needed more of a back story.

"The Isle" is the story of the relationship between a depressive male and a mute female. She runs a fishing retreat which takes the form of a number of small floating huts on a lake, and he is one of a number of her customers. Their bizarre relationship revolves around his violence both towards himself and her, and her jealousy and her equally extreme self-harming practises.An extremely well-filmed movie, in typically beautiful oriental style with mist rolling over the lakes and deep blue hues, the film is let down by its sheer pointlessness.In terms of the film's self-promotion as extreme perversion, whilst the viewing is certainly not mainstream, I wouldn't rate it as overly extreme. The self-harming incidents which are the main pieces of uncomfortable viewing are spread fairly far apart and between them the film can be a little slow. In fact, the 'worst' case of the woman's self-harming, towards the end of the film, is actually strangely comic in its execution.More could have been done with the particularly interesting psychology of the woman. For instance her tendency to swim underwater at night and spy on her customers by sneaking up through the trapdoor in the huts' floors could have been pursued with great effect.So in summary it was, for me, certainly a watchable film but neither as perversely offensive as it claims, nor does it hold a meaningful story. So despite its strong cinematography I'm giving it an average vote.

'The Isle' is, in turn, beautiful, compelling, disturbing & hypnotic. As a fan of world cinema, I appreciate many different qualities in a film and, in my opinion, this one has them all. At present, Korean cinema is probably at the top of tree with such excellent and original films as 'Oldboy', 'Save the Green Planet', 'Sympathy for Mr Vengeance' and 'Memories of Murder'. Kim Ki-duk's later films are great too, but I don't believe that he ever surpasses 'The Isle'. I rate this film so highly that I even own two copies: First Run Features' uncut, letterboxed R1 edition (with music video and trailer) and Tartan's more recent (cut) R2 anamorphic widescreen release! Stylistically influenced by Kaneto Shindo's 'Onibaba', the film works on a nember of level's. It charts the developing obsessive relationship between two damaged individuals with their longing for a resolution that would allow them trust and reconciliation - a trust that neither, given their precious experiences, feels that they can afford. Of course, for Koreans, this is very much the story of their two countries' joint history, something the director lets you work out for yourself rather than shoving down your throat (unlike the fishooks in the film). One caveat: the uncut film contains scenes featuring fairly extreme animal cruelty and so should be avoided by those who are sensitive to such issues.

Une jeune gérante qui ne parle pas, mais qui peut parler.Des bungalows de pêche flottants, séparés les uns des autres d'une centaine de mètres.Des hommes qui viennent pêcher.Des hommes qui viennent avec leur maîtresse.Des hommes qui viennent se cacher.Au moins un, qui a assassiné sa femme et l'amant de celle-ci."The Isle" est un "Empire des sens" coréen extrêmement convaincant, mais à réserver à un public "averti". Ce n'est pas "Salo ou les 120 journées de Sodome", mais presque...

bon dvd merci beaucoup

as a keen viewer of Asian cinema i decided to give this movie a shot based on the plot line on the back of the DVD alone.this made it sound like a creepy horror tale of an evil mermaid type creature who devours men in her evil lair. right? so i was expecting pale black haired scary ghosts but 'kool' water ones instead of the ones that float on ceilings! right?wrong! their are no ghosts or spirits, just one crazy gal who's role is not really explained, i think she is a kind of cleaner for fishermen, i read somewhere that she 'arranges' prostitutes to tend to the men their if she can't do it herself but this is inaccurate. THE MEN staying their order some prostitutes and she simply transports them to the correct 'boathouse', only having sex with a man later in the movie which is out of jealousy because the object of her desires has a new daily visitor. (the prostitute mentioned earlier)the film explores sadism and strange sexual relation's, it's not slick or stylish and the story isn't enough to keep you interested, or indeed make you want to watch it again.the overall look is low budget and shoddy and has a washed out 80's feel, so if you like aesthetically pleasing features then this certainly ain't for you.The hook scenes: very gross and er disturbing but the key highlights of this otherwise dull movie, and the scenes that pull the whole thing together in a weird and strangely wonderful way.The only reason I kept on watching this slow and despite being set in the water- DRY film was the strange manner of the relationship that is forming between the 2 lead characters, as a study of humanity ths aspect is very interesting.It's worth a watch once or twice if it's on TV but I don't feel it warrants a purchase, but then again if you want to see it that's what you have to do 9 times out of 10! so if this kind of thing interests you then go ahead, but don't spend too much...I have edited this review today, (a year or so later) after re-reading it to see why most people chose not to vote for it as a "helpful" review. well all I can say is that I have watched hundreds more films in this time and have learnt to appreciate these kind of slow-moving uneventful films for what they are, my opinions back then were somewhat one sided and my reviews were and still are I guess ameteurish, but we all have to start somewhere! thanks for reading.