REVIEWS Arirang REVIEWED BYDAN FAINARU


This, without doubt, is the ultimate ‘film d’auteur’ ever made. Kim Ki-duk’s performance — there is nothing in this film he doesn’t do and there is no- one else in it except him — is a thought-provoking tour de force, the far-out experiment of a film- maker in crisis. He asks crucial questions about himself, his profession and his past achievements in a manner that will most likely put off general film audiences, but should reach every film school and festival in the world; its topics will be dis- cussed by anyone who would like to dedicate their life to making or even watching movies. Doing it justice in a short review is impossible,


not because Kim is providing revolutionary insights into his line of work, but because he raises issues which are too often ignored as irrelevant or pedan- tic by professionals who should know better. Since 2008, when one of his actresses almost


died in the course of shooting Dream — an incident for which he blames his own negligence — Kim stopped making films, and retreated in the com- pany of a cat to a lonely house on a hill on the out- skirts of an unspecified city. There, in complete solitude, he started mulling


over his existence, the films he made, the themes he had chosen for them, about his own life but also about life and death in general, about violence,


UN CERTAIN REGARD


S. Kor. 2011. 100mins Director/screenplay/ producer/editor/ cinematography/cast Kim Ki-duk International sales Finecut, www.finecut.co.kr


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questions prompt the film-maker to dig even deeper on his introspective journey. The film’s title is the name of the song he renders in a hoarse cry, as if wrenched from his own soul and into the cam- era, poetically expressing his profound disarray — his feeling that life is a series of hills you climb and then descend, a neverending cycle which governs our entire existence. Unsurprisingly, the film ends with Kim depart-


friendship, loyalty, treason, and about his ethical choice in films — and outside them as well. He acquired a Canon digital camera, and with


no-one to talk to, began shooting his daily activi- ties while also turning the lens on himself. Acting as his own interviewer and subject, Kim asks ques- tions such as, “Why did you drop everything and chose this hermit’s life?”, and then he has the ‘other’ Kim answering in a long, painful soliloquy, detailing his doubts, fears, disappointments, per- sonal and professional; and then adding a third Kim, who follows the conversation between the two others on a monitor, with a sort of doubtful look on his face. One might even add yet another participant in this one-man conversation, Kim’s shadow, whose


ing from everything that represented his previous work before embarking on a new film career, since film-making is the one thing he wants to do. He is revisiting his past and symbolically emptying his revolver into it, after which he watches that most representative philosophical cycle of his career, Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… And Spring on his TV monitor. Even in such rudimentary conditions, one can-


not ignore Kim’s gift for colour compositions, whether he shoots his pots and pans, or his work tools. Then, in case anyone forgets, the posters of his films keep fresh the memory of his past work, while the early paintings he made in the south of France are very much in evidence at the end of the film. Whether everything Kim says in this film is a


spontaneous, sincere reflection of a troubled con- science or a carefully thought-out script, one will probably never know. However, the questions are perfectly valid and need to be addressed by anyone who considers themself a conscientious artist. As for the new direction of his career, better wait for his next film.


n 20 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 16, 2011


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