User reviews

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.

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.

In combining elements of sci-fi and fantasy with a thoughtful, contemplative study of human relationships, the Korean film, "Time," brings the adage "Beauty is only skin deep" to a whole new level.

When she begins to sense that her boyfriend, Ji-woo, may be losing interest in her, Seh-hee decides to undergo plastic surgery so radical that even he will not be able to recognize her. Her plan is to then insinuate herself back into Ji-woo's life under the guise of her new identity, hoping to stave off his growing indifference and, in so doing, give them what amounts to a second chance as a couple. Needless, to say, Seh-hee 's scheme does not work out quite as planned and she learns some pretty powerful lessons about the way true love actually works.

Although Seh-hee clearly believes that by altering her appearance she will be able to change her inner makeup as well, the truth is that she remains every bit as grasping, jealous, melodramatic and paranoid after the surgery as she was before. No amount of change in her looks can raise her self-esteem or make her any less difficult to deal with. Her boyfriend, meanwhile, becomes a pawn in her twisted game, as he is tricked into inadvertently rekindling a romance with a woman who carries with her all the same baggage he had so much trouble putting up with in the previous relationship (despite the fact that he genuinely loves her).

An attack on the looks-obsessed nature of modern culture, "Time" is not a "thriller" in the conventional sense of the term. It demands patience as it goes about the business of laying out its storyline and doesn't go in for a whole lot of fancy horror movie pyrotechnics to raise the audience's hackles. Instead, it relies mainly on subtle psychological insights to generate a feeling of imbalance and unease. Seh-hee is clearly mentally and emotionally unstable, and writer/director Ki-duk Kim's subtle, almost Pirandellian way of dealing with that madness makes it all the more disturbing.

Strong performances, steady direction, sharp cinematography and an unnerving view of human nature all combine to make "Time" an offbeat, memorable experience. Don't expect to jump out of your seat or bury your face in your hands during the course of this film - for in the case of "Time," the chills all take place in the mind.

Kim Ki-Duk's latest movie deals with a story set in metropolitan environment. The main characters are fully aware of the speed with which the city breathes and the crowds of people that pass; they attempt to fight time, develop recognizable identities, yet still feel lost in the big place. These thoughts lead the woman character (played by Seong Hyeon-a) to a conclusion that the only way to keep her lover is to not tire the relationship; and for such it is necessary that she undergoes plastic surgery. Her lover doesn't know that; he's forced to live six months without any idea where she's gone to, if she's alive, whether she's dumped him or not and most importantly, if he should keep his heart open to her love and possibly hope for her comeback.

These are heartbreaking moments, but surprisingly the Czech audience took them rather easily; most repeatedly laughed at scenes which are funny, but at the same time raise important question and, for my taste, require much attention paid.

During the six months in which the woman's face is fixing up, the movie centers around her lover and the life he's attempting to live; at that time the movie is floating endlessly, introducing new characters (if I'm not mistaken, all played by the same great actress). It is entertaining but at the same time includes thoughts revolving around existence, recognition, individuality and similar. Eventually both ends meet, with funny yet consequent twist at the end.

Similarly to one of the author's previous movie, 3-Iron, the movie feels like a soft ballad; shots composed with a beautiful sense for color, reflections and composition, but also shaky-cam feeling whenever necessary. Although "Time" is set in a huge city, places are revisited again and memorized on photos, as are the characters. Unusually for Kim Ki-Duk, there is also lots of dialogue included; fortunately enough not only does that not wear out but it's often pretty entertaining.

Summed up, "Time" was a beautiful experience, a movie that completely carried me away. If you're planning on seeing it, do not underestimate the somewhat light appearance; it deals with very important issues, and it deals with them thoroughly. Pay attention and you'll be rewarded big time.

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.

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.

Hope you have read the official story line.

I was intrigued by that and since we are all so used to so many of the Hollywood style movies and also because of the relatively low 7.2 rating here at IMDb I was expecting it to be a mediocre merry go round, boy was I wrong! This is a weird movie, and instead of putting us off it makes us think, think really hard. Very strangely, this movie, unlike other movies is always showing us a certain third party perspective (normally Hollywood tries to do just the opposite to make us empathize with the character), and its this that makes us 'think'.

And I came off thinking:

* Our lives are too good, and because its too good we do things to make it complicated, we basically imagine up things, and we ourselves create problems which we then try so hard to solve.

* Only if we had left things as it was.

* Aren't we being just plain greedy.

If you have liked movies like Tokyo Story, Still Walking, etc., yes please check out this movie.

Thank you for reading. :-).

Cheers!

Adventurous Korean director Ki-Duk Kim has gotten a bad rap for his so-called idiosyncratic film-making, which he delivers with an impeccable visual sense, a twisted sense of humor, and provocative allegory to spare. His fast paced productions and edgy material create films that are rather unique works of filmic art that are clearly not to most people's taste. It seems that many of his harshest critics are surveying the trees and not the forest in his work, which misses the point.

His 2006 film "Time" is another journey into the human psyche. This time with the story of a young couple whose overall unstable relationship replete with jealousy issues and frequent quarreling drive the woman to resort to drastic measures. She abruptly disappears from the man's life and has plastic surgery to change her entire appearance. As the days and months go by the young man loses hope that his beloved will return to him.

This dark romantic, pseudo-science fiction, tale is at times captivating and unsettling and certain to be a satisfying date movie for intellectuals. It has plenty to say about the urge to change the one you love, the obsessive nature of passion, and the culture of youth and beauty. This is one great, great film!

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 saw this film at the opening of the Karlovy Vary film festival. The story focuses on the themes of identity, vanity and the constant pressure to improve our own personal appearance. The story revolves around the central female character who undergoes radical plastic surgery in order to ensure that her lover does not grow bored of her appearance. The narrative builds an increasingly complex story woven around the central female and male characters and also utilises 3-4 key locations including a coffee shop and sculpture park. Yet the narrative is very unevenly paced - initially it deliberately takes very little time to set the basic premise of the story, but then after dragging out the middle section of the story, the final series of events seem to pass at a frankly ludicrous pace. Little time is taken to explore motives or explain events and as a result potentially dramatic scenes are given little context. One reviewer was surprised that the audience at the premiere laughed during serious scenes - my personal opinion is that many viewers found the events unbelievable and unrealistic - hence the incredulous reaction. This problem was further compounded by a weak performance from the central male character. The character is largely bewildered by events but then as the story unfolds he goes through wider mood swings that are not conveyed in a way that makes the viewer believe or empathise with these emotions. Personally - I found as the story developed I gradually lost interest in the characters and the conclusion to the story was predictable, convenient and over-engineered.

Having recently discovered Park Chan-wook's body of work I decided it was time to explore the work of another South Korean writer/director garnering similar acclaim. Kim Ki-duk has been hailed a maverick, labeled the "bad guy" of Korean cinema and his body of work has been described as brutal, graphic and unforgettable. As a result of the hype, my expectations were pretty high when I dipped my toes in Ki-duk's waters, first with 2004's 3- Iron and a few days later with 2006's Time. But, as it often is with high expectations, there's little space to soar and a long way to fall.

While both films were technically astute and showcased flashes of poetic brilliance, my overall impression of Ki-duk is that he is a filmmaker who heavily relies on contrived plot lines, overt romanticism, melodrama, shock and surprise. Considering that Ki-duk has criticized his Korean contemporaries for being "too intellectual" it comes as no surprise his films owe more to Hollywood than the New Wave. Not surprising, the major problem with both 3-Iron and Time is that they aren't intellectual, are hollow and desperate to impress audiences.

3-Iron is a film with little dialogue -- virtually none spoken by the two principals -- an unconventional approach to storytelling, one many of my favorite films adhere to. But sitting through 3-Iron I couldn't escape the feeling I was watching a self-conscious student film, one that isn't nearly as poignant as it wants to be. 3-Iron desperately wants to be interpreted as a serious work of cinema, exemplified by Ki-duk's deliberate efforts to manufacture curiosity by shrouding his main characters in ambiguous and mysterious behavior, all of which is framed in strictly composed wide shots and long takes. Unfortunately, this behavior is hard to connect with since it almost always feels unnatural, insincere and contrived; it feels like the voice of the writer is speaking to us, not the inhabitants within the story.

In contrast, Chan-wook opts to challenge his audience with unorthodox editing and purposefully unconventional methods of storytelling, Ki-duk tells his story in very straight forward and conventional manner. The net result is that Ki-duk's characters always feel trapped within the realm of conventional storytelling and the eccentricities that animate their actions always feel manufactured by an authorial voice. As is often the case when movies try to capture the essence of "Love," they try too hard to be profound and naturalism ends up taking a back seat to something less desirable.A lot of people love 3-Iron because they see it as an unconventional love story. There's no question the subject matter owes more to Christopher Nolan's Following then it does to Anthony Minghella's The English Patient, so in that regard I suppose one has to concede 3-Iron isn't a typical romance film. But despite 3- Iron being determined to be different, the only thing it actually does any different from run- of-the-mill romance yarns is to portray unrealistic, eccentric and (ultimately) contrived behavior from the two lovers involved. Aside from this abnormal behavior, very few cinematic elements within 3-Iron can be considered unconventional.

Despite the shortcomings of both 3-Iron and Time, I still think these are films worthy of modest amount of attention. At the very least, they are mindlessly engaging and at their best they are subtly indifferent to the formula that makes so many romantic films unbearable.

In my opinion Shi-gan is a very challenging name for such a movie. It is focusing mostly personal (two people's) affair. So it doesn't go beyond giving some information about Korean life and geography (they're serving water before ordering. Symbolism of film was not related with the story stream. Short scenes of actions(kicking the big tree) are not for strengthening the expression but for revealing the side of director. Sculpture park is the most interesting part of the movie and worth to see. But even the atmosphere of place and integration of story to the sculptures do not save the film. So movie must have a name like " Anatomy of a Relationship" which describe better and don't create great expectations for the audience

Many Koreans hate the fact that Kim Ki Duk is still able to produce movies in Korea. There were many people boycotting this film in Korea, many saying that he is a very pessimistic human being, touching up on all the dirty things about Korea.

I myself finally got the chance to watch this. Watching all of Kim Ki Duk's film so far, I believed that this was definitely much more colorful in a sense. The story was very relative towards the Korean population. With plastic surgery becoming just a new hobby in Korea, Kim Ki Duk, goes in depth with the theme. The cinematography was great. Personally, it was my favorite film by him so far, before this it's been Bad Guy and Address Unknown but, Time delivered it to me. It kept me glued to my seat the entire time. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

If people enjoy the movies made by Mr. Kim Ki Duk. you won't regret this one either.

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.

As usual, Kim Ki Duk surprises everyone with a brilliant and original movie. Especially the last minute!!!! We can say... a movie about TIME whose REAL TIME is the last minute!! The actors have been well chosen, especially the actresses (as usual in Kim). The ambiance really fits the story... wonderful the "park of statues"... Where is it? I'd like to visit!!! And then... the café "Room and Rumours"... very amusing and a "house of divertissement"! A little bit of violence, which shows that Kim is not only devoted to represent violence in its essence! This is his movie with less violence than the previous (think about Bad Guy, for instance... of Iron 3...) Great!!

If I can spare at least one fan of Kim Ki-duk's other films from wasting their time on this sub-par offering, then my work here is done. Time is perhaps the director's most straightforward film, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this case the lack of complexity and hyperrealism found in some of his better films makes this one a failure by comparison. Time makes some fairly obvious statements about identity, jealousy and attachment (as opposed to real, true love.) No doubt some viewers (especially those unfamiliar with the director's other work) will find these statements deep and moving (and the fairly pat and predictable narrative easy to follow.) The director is nonetheless an artful cinematographer and this film is not without its charming scenes and symbolic and visual merit. However, compared to the complex, cerebral and occasionally magical dramatic presentation of films like The Isle and 3-Iron, this offering from Kim falls miserably short.

Welcome back to the old good times of 'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring' and 'Seom'. That's the feeling I got watching 'Shi gan'. After 'Hwal', which was a little disappointing, I really enjoyed Kim's last film. The story is indeed a simple one and, as some indicated, unrealistic. But wait! No one ever said Kim's films have (or have ever been) realistic. It's all about philosophy, psychology and the feelings where the physical surroundings and their reality are not relevant. I have heard talks that Kim Ki-duk is not always appreciated in Korea and I had a chance to ensure this myself with my Korean friends here in the UK who didn't seem too fascinated about the stories we watched in 'Spring, Summer Fall...' and 'Samaria' (I didn't dare to suggest them to watch 'Seom'... perhaps that would have been too much to them). It's in a way a little sad because, in my opinion, Kim Ki-duk is one of the greatest directors alive... and he's at his best with 'Shi gan'.

Although I have not watched any of the director's previous movies, "TIME" was a movie that was definitely provocative and representative of women's ideals of today. At least most of the women I know. Do not watch this movie at face value because for me, I felt that the director did a fantastic job portraying the emotions and insanity faced by the women and men who were in that situation. When in the cinema, there were men sitting next to me complaining about how crazy the protagonist was. I was quite sure he didn't enjoy it. So my advice is take it artistically. It's quite disturbing to the mind when you see what plastic surgery looks so prepare yourself for such graphics.

Plastic surgery has become today's solution to esteem problems and the result is, even more problems.