Time

Kim Ki Duk's film Shigan/Time is about the concept of beauty which differs from person to person.He has built his film around a couple of young,violent lovers whose whimsical behavior reveal hotheadedness prevailing in South Korean society.Much of the film tries to find out why people especially youngsters start to get bored in relationships ? Although Shigan/Time concentrates its energies by depicting various procedures used to beautify ordinary looking people,it loses no time to convey that real beauty lies in one's heart.We get a clear message that inner beauty is important than a person's external appearance.Kim Ki Duk also suggests that boredom is not entirely a curious phenomenon related to affluent nations as this malaise of western world has already started to rear its ugly head in new developed nations too such as South Korea.It is a pity that not much is known about Kim Di Duk's motivation for making such an inspirational film.However,one can hazard a fortuitous guess that Kim Di Duk made this film due to an old incident of his reckless wild life when he was rejected by some girl.

I enjoyed this film. I think that reviewers who claim it had nothing more to say than "plastic surgery is bad" are really refusing to dig critically into the themes of the film. It is about identity; it is about jealousy and fear; it is about vanity. These aren't exactly "easy" themes, and while I do think that the insanity of the heroine do make it difficult to relate to at times, the film had a lot to say that is applicable to all of us.. not just jealous nuts. That being said, I definitely viewed the film as a fable (especially because of the last scene). In some ways it reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with this weird sense of starting with a clean slate.

The idea of not being able to recognize a past lover is extremely disturbing to me personally, and so I might have allowed myself to get taken in by this film more than some people would. Even so, I think that the film was executed very well and deserves high marks.

A poet said that there are 3 types of love: First for a REASON... You love someone for a reason(because she's beautiful,because she's special etc.) Second is to love AS... You love someone as good as she loves you,as much as you love your mum, etc. Third is to love DESPITE... Despite she's ugly, despite she's moody, despite she's lighthearted, etc. Then he added, to truly love someone is to accept her/his nature with pros and cons altogether.

In Kim Ki-duk's "Shi gan(Time)" the whole plot is based on a Korean couple who are at their mid-20s. Even though, they're getting prepared to marry, they don't realize that their relation is still relying on reasons. Like every fresh couple, since they don't express their needs and wishes to each other, their harmony goes downhill by time. Seh-Hee surprisingly leaves her lover without any warning or explanation due to her jealousy on him. She decides to have a plastic surgery to get a more beautiful face than she has. That way, when she comes back, she'll feel more comfortable for securing her love through her beauty. In other words, she leaves him for the shortfall of trust in their relationship. Right here at the character intro scenes(the first half-an-hour) there's a drastic message: You love someone for a reason, you'll lose her/him for another.

Kim Ki-duk has set his screenplay out for reflecting the social affinity of South Korean women to plastic surgery. Social statistics mark that South Korea is among the world's top 3 countries regarding this subject. Kim Ki-duk's cinema language carries a great focus on the main plot and he enriches this focus with use of Symbolism. Just like in a poet, each word and each act represents a deeper meaning more than itself. This creates a few memorable scenes: First in the public ferry-boat scene, second the scene with sculptures and figurines at the beach park, third the change of the tide on the beach when lovers are parted, finally before the closure most of the Seh-Hee's parts carry Symbolism in words:

1/"If we turn around and make eye contact, then we should meet again. One, two, three..."(means my eyes were at you when you were with other women, if you've ever been aware of that I'd never have left you)

2/"You should realize how happy you are, just do well on your part"(means you must be happy for being loved by me)

3/"Things happening suddenly, when something lost, it never comes back"(means love happens all of a sudden, when you're loved you're not aware of it; the moment you start to aware of someone's love, it vanishes away)

Instead of trying to express the feelings with words, Kim Ki-duk hides the true meanings away; which may also mean that he kept a secret between him and his characters against us. It's truly to see how deep a love can get with keeping it as a secret. This concept was very rare to come across. On the other hand, even though the main plot is unique, its sub-plot(plastic surgery) is not.

In cinema history, there are notable films within various genres featuring plastic surgery. Starting to count, let's look at the drama/romance genre first: In Elizabeth Taylor's popular drama movie "Ash Wednesday(1973)", Taylor's character tends to have plastic surgery for the same reason as Seh-Hee herein, to retain her lover's attention on her. From the recent years, Alejandro Amenabar's "Abre Los Ojos" and its Hollywood copycat "Vanilla Sky" tell the off-base story of a playboy's lose of his handsome face due to a traffic accident, and his captious dreams of regaining his face with plastic surgery. From the TV, 2005's Golden Globe winner TV-drama "Nip/Tuck" was taking its departure with two plastic surgeons of opposite personalities.

Plastic surgery was also memorable in Robert Zemeckis's "Death Becomes Her(1992)" where Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn were making up a fun out of this subject. Addictive to look younger, these aged ladies were competing with each other via having plastic surgeries until they explore a youth elixir. Another funny example of a plastic surgery comedy had been featuring in a scene in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil(1985)" where the leading character's mother wants to have plastic surgery without anaesthesia while she's wide-awake. Whereas in the horror genre, the plastic surgery has used very seriously. The cult filmmaker Jesus Franco's "Faceless(1987)" was a psychopathic crime story, in which a plastic surgeon kidnaps a beautiful model to stitch up her face into his sister's. Dated 1960 the British horror "Circus of Horrors" told another crime story of a plastic surgeon who takes his patients prisoner to work as models at a circus of horrors. Maybe the earliest example to a plastic surgery concept on the silverscreen was Humphrey Bogart's "Dark Passage(1947)". This was an unique crime/thriller movie, having Humphrey Bogart as a criminal's new face after the plastic surgery which made it easier for him to hide away from the police. In the other crime/thriller movies that used plastic surgery in its content, Michael Caine's "The Jigsaw Man" displayed a KGB agent who sent to Britain for misleading targets. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage's "Face Off" on the other hand, brought a fresh idea of shifting agents with each other by means of plastic surgery. Looking at a Turkish TV epic of crime genre "Kurtlar Vadisi" displayed a MIT spy becoming a Mafia boss after a successful plastic surgery altering into a new identity.

For now, the last sample of this plot is Shi gan, which is among the top ten most important movies of the decade through its unique cinema language. Shi gan develops a story from separation of lovers and connects it with plastic surgery, then climbs up the relationship ladder to become a cure for parted couples. It's a must-see for everyone who is seeking a good drama to watch.

Ki-duk Kim is one of my favorite filmmakers. He seems to always stick to his vision and, I suspect, enjoys going against the very grain of where he is expected to go. It is my opinion that he takes audiences to "places" in Korean culture that other Korean filmmakers dare not go. I had been waiting to see this film on the screen but the opportunity has yet to come. I was thrilled when a pal sent me the just released DVD.

Ki-duk Kim's work is surreal, socio-political and melo-dramatic all at once. This can be an uncomfortable combination. I find that there is often a dark comedic element at work in his films which makes it all the more uncomfortable. In fact, I often wonder if the "comedy" I find is intended. As a viewer, I don't care. I find his work endlessly interesting and unforgettable.

This is not his finest work. It is, however, a visually stunning work. At it's heart are two central ideas playing off each other: the 21st century obsession with plastic surgery and the obsessive quality of love/devotion. The film is filled with character insecurity and the neurotic. The surreal set up for this film is also a bit too confused. However, I would urge anyone interested in his work or the films that are coming out of Asis to seek this film out.

There has been criticism of the theatrics of the performers. While I understand this issue I feel the actors give exactly what Kim was after. The pitch of the performances match the over-the-top story line.

This is an intellectual film. I think what I love the most is the fact that it is visually intellectual vs. plot driven intellectual. I am not sure I managed to get that idea out, but I hope whoever reads this understands what I am trying to articulate.

There is something startlingly relevant to this film. The ever increasing lack of identity in the modern world, and the rise of all sorts of abstract selves, from Internet IDs to Social Security numbers, has left our age with nothing but ever changing faces and dubious selves. The most corporeal and brutal example of this is cosmetic surgery. And, Kim Ki-Duk's haunting masterpiece speaks to both the obsession with a physical ideal, as well as the very ambiguous ideology of identity.

As a cynical and often apathetic moviegoer, this film entranced, bewildered and truly disconcerted me. Kim Ki-Duk is developing into an incredible filmmaker. The cinematography is delicately crisp, in a way that is very new and only really found in a handful of Asian movies from about the last 5 years. The dramatic elements are utterly profound, and the plot functions on many levels, (though not specifically allegorical) invoking and evoking issues ranging from history, the failure and ultimate relativism of communication, the absurd necessity for beauty, as well as a plethora of other parallels.

Anyhow, I find myself being verbose, but I just watched this movie and am terribly excited about it. Instead, the film itself is anything but convoluted, and though not exceedingly complex, is incredibly deep. Be patient, because it starts a little slowly, but erupts into something so strange and meaningful that I would recommend this film to anyone that enjoys Asian cinema or that likes to think.