The Bow
Studio: Tartan
WorkNameSort: Bow , The
Critics ravaged this movie when it played at Cannes, so much so that it never received proper stateside distribution. For most of us, this Tartan release is the first we’ll see of The Bow, South Korean director Ki-Duk Kim’s follow-up to 2004’s astounding metaphysical experience, 3-Iron. The film proves that there are few better visual storytellers in the business. The Bow comprises an elegant repetition of motifs aboard a rickety boat in the middle of an ocean, where an old fortuneteller lives with a 16-year-old-girl he’s raised on the dinghy for a decade. Grooming her to be his wife and using a bow and arrow to ward off horny men who pass by the boat, he plans to marry her on her 17th birthday, but the appearance of a kind younger man puts a wrench in the plans. The girl never speaks (as in 3-Iron), but this time her silence feels more like a stunt. Add to this the smooth-jazz soundtrack, and you have nowhere for those spellbinding images to go except for Kim’s self-indulgent conceit.
This article appears in Jun 27 – Jul 3, 2007.