"The Bow"

Ten years ago an old man found a young girl adrift at sea. Ever since then, he's been raising her in his boat, a fishing platform in the middle of nowhere. They make a living by renting out the boat to various hobbyists who appreciate the chance to enjoy an isolated day of fishing. The old man and the young girl also have a special talent- the ability to tell fortunes, which is accomplished through a peculiar, dangerous ritual.

"The Bow"features many odd, inexplicable congruities along similar lines. The old man (played byJeon Seong-hwan) is both creepy and sympathetic as he follows through on actions and events that only really make sense to him. He brings to mind the supernatural creatures in old fairy tales who seem to have powers beyond the known universe and yet for no apparent reason are obsessed with extracting betrothals from normal human women.

For that matter, the girl (played byHan Yeo-reum) herself has plenty of odd character quirks. She shares the old man's same taciturnity, but where he's satisfied with simply being mysterious, she takes the extra step of deliberately enticing the people around her. The girl seems to gain pleasure simply by eliciting any kind of emotional reaction from anyone- it's an act that feels beyond the realm of mere sexual curiousity or adolescent rebellion.

The normal humans we meet in this story are an odd counterpoint to these two. They, like the audience, see the relationship between the old man and the girl in disturbing terms. But their superior attitudes feel morally hollow when judged in concert with their actions. Only one such character has an appropriate response- and while he has many good, logical reasons for why the girl should leave, it's difficult to tell whether she actually finds his arguments convincing or whether they're just a valid human excuse when her real motivations are much stranger.

It would be very easy to dismiss"The Bow"as the fetishistic fantasy of a perverted man, but directorKim Ki-dukinfuses all of this film with an awareness that makes such a simple conclusion absurd. The ending is an extremely strange compromise between ideas that seem irreconcilable- but only because we, the audience are normal."The Bow"features exactly one scene where one of our semi-supernatural characters decides to have a traditional reaction to emotional anguish- and this absurd cliche quickly rings as an irrational, foolish idea even though it has by far the film's most transparent motivation and follow-through.

This film has many extended scenes with little decisive action or dialogue. Consequently,"The Bow"should only be watched by someone who is willing to take the time to consider symbolism without thinking about what specifically the symbol actually represents. At the very end of this film a title card reveals what is, mostly likely, the guiding principle by which the old man and the girl consider life to be worth living. While it might not make much sense to the normal human viewer, after having seen what passes on-screen, we can at least appreciate that this is something that someone somewhere can believe in.

Review by William Schwartz

"The Bow"is directed byKim Ki-dukand featuresJeon Seong-hwanandHan Yeo-reum.

Available on DVD from Amazon