The Isle

Women! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em! Notorious for causing viewers to scream, vomit and pass out at its Venice premiere, Kim's fourth feature is a juvenile allegory of man's love/hate relationship with woman. The mute Hee-Jin (Seo) operates a number of fishing rafts on a remote lake, supplying provisions, fishing aids and sometimes sexual services to the men who rent them. The suicidal Hyun-Sik (Kim), evidently on the run, rents a raft. She seduces him, he beats her, she takes revenge, he swallows fish hooks, she saves his life, he kicks her crotch, etc etc. At least it's all framed in striking images, but the ideas are banal, the shock tactics are desperate (fish hooks in the vagina) and the cruelty to animals is indefensible. In sum, obnoxious.