Friday, August 31, 2012

Arirang (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)
Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)
Genre: Documentary | Drama
Director: Kim Ki-duk
Starring: Kim Ki-duk
Language: Korean
Duration: 100 min.
Rating: 6.8
Summary:
A self shot portrait of a filmmaker going through a personal crisis.
Arirang, named for a famous Korean folk song, is a documentary film produced, written by, directed, and starring South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the section's top prize, the Un Certain Regard award, tied with Stopped on Track by Andreas Dresen.

Between 1996 and 2008, acclaimed South Korean director Kim Ki-duk made fifteen films, many of which garnered international acclaim. In 2004, he amazingly won the Best Director awards at both the Berlin International Film Festival (for Samaritan Girl  사마리아) and the Venice Film Festival (for 3-Iron 빈 집). However an accident occurred during the filming of his 2008 film Dream that nearly cost the life of actress Lee Na-young. Upon that film's completion, Kim became depressed and went into a self imposed exile, living alone in a run-down shack in the mountains where he stayed for three years. 

In Arirang, Kim turns his camera on himself, and the result is a strange but insightful document of self discovery. On the surface, it's 100 minutes of a middle aged weirdo ranting away, drunkenly rambling, and singing out of tune. Yet, it is also quite obviously the work of a seasoned director. In lesser hands, this would have been a hopelessly boring mess, but the editing, framing, staging, and even his acting, are all done in a manner that keeps things as interesting as possible.

There are some inventive sequences where he interviews himself, one where he converses with his own shadow, and another where his sober self berates his drunken self. He also spends a lot of time capturing his living conditions. A shack so cold he has to pitch a tent indoors to keep warm, and there's no running water, so he has to melt snow over his wood burning furnace for water, and go outside and dig a hole with a spade to relieve himself.

This obviously isn't a film for everyone. You probably either have to be a great fan of the director (like Toby), or have a larger than normal fascination with the human mind to appreciate this film.  Prior to this, I had only seen one of his films, but after witnessing it, I'm convinced to seek out more.
Bonjour Tristesse
Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

Arirang • 아리랑 (2011)

13 comments:

the_cynical_gamer said...

Its a hard one to critique, but one that will be worth the effort for many for its unusual, insightful distortion of the documentary form. My review: http://www.filmhaha.com/2012/04/review-arirang.html

filmnohito said...

I pretty much came to the same conclusion that you did. He's
a talented writer/director but I find his work lacked the power to move me and
sometimes his subject matter is disturbing. This film allowed me to see where
it all comes from.

Michaël Parent said...

I have only seen 3-Iron and liked it a lot, it looks like a pretentious piece of self-reflexion. Just for that I might give it a watch!

The Angry Lurker said...

Like a different type of documentary maybe?

blahblahblahtoby said...

wow i've not heard the story of this or anything, sounds fascinating. you called it right!

365 moviesandsongs365 said...

hmm, I might see this on the strength of Kim Ki Duk's previous work. If nothing else, we get to know the director a bit better.(providing he is playing himself here, that is)
If you're interesting in Kim Ki Duk,I'd recommend: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring (2003), Time (2006), or The Bow (2005).
I generally like his style, but I do find they don't hold up too well for a rewatch(for me at least).

d_4 said...

Larger than normal fascination with the human mind, yes, that sounds like me. I actually thought, with the trailer and the description that it'd be more boring. It sounds fascinating now though.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah I think this will help when I finally get to see more of his work.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Haha, yeah that's one way to describe it. I still found it fascinating though.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Quite different. Most times you can't really tell whether he's made the whole thing up or not.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Cool. I'm looking forward to what you have to say about it.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah, there are times when it's obvious he is playing a character, and other times when it feels genuine. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring is the one film of his I've seen, and I did enjoy it. I'll try and look up your other suggestions. Thanks for those.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I kinda felt the same way when I first put it on, I expected to be bored and have to shut it off, but ended up enjoying it more than I expected to.

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