Moebius

Most directors become less experimental or transgressive once they've made a name for themselves. Kim Ki-duk is one of the most notable exceptions. Being Korea's most notorious film maker isn't an easy accomplishment in the first place, given that no other country produces so many veritable authors of cinema. But being able to increase the radicality of one's cinematic language while maintaining the same themes is quite a feat indeed.

Kim's Golden Lion-winning previous work 'Pieta' was already almost silent; with 'Moebius' he has not only succeeded in making an entertaining silent film which isn't a reminiscence of a bygone era, but actually managed to push the limits of film as a medium a bit further ahead. The closest film which could compare is 'Themroc', not just because there's no dialog apart from lascivious or painful grunts, but because it almost seems to be a parody of that film's social critique: 'Moebius' quite on the contrary admits to its own silliness.

Many reviewers seem to take the symbols too seriously. The Buddha heads, knifes used for castration and masturbation and of course the body part which is the main plot device (as well as what the title may ironically refer to) - they may all mean something, but they certainly don't have to. There may be tons of allusions to Greek mythology, but it's entirely possible that this is just what you want - or do not want - to read into the film. If these metaphors were any clearer - then this would make 'Moebius' a lot less brilliant. I prefer to think that, as in many of Kim's previous films, it's the effect which is the meaning, and there's not much of a meaning hidden underneath the effect.

Which is why I think of 'Moebius' as one of this year's very few 'must-sees' - unless one suffers from castration anxiety.

I wanted to write a review so as to somehow share what I just have seen with someone (anyone). Even if it's just my text being passed on to you the apprehensive reader.

As what happens in Moebius, stays in Moebius & I wont be able to share this over the coffee machine at work tomorrow.

I've see some weird movies (swedish, french, Japanese, south American etc etc...). I didn't think I could be made to turn from the screen & put my hands over my eyes anymore. However "Ki-duk Kim" writer/director reached deep into that dark space within his twisted soul and pulled this bad boy up for all to ponder.

So lets get serious! It's not the rape, violence & dark nature of this movie that you haven't seen before. It's the haunting way all it's been put together. The reason why you'll keep watching is as far as art concerned, the director & the actors do a wonderful performance in portraying this darker than twisted narrative. In fact if they didn't perform it so well, you wouldn't be able to watch.

Minus a musical score or any verbal communication, every sound you hear, affects the hairs on the back of your neck. It's not a horror, however you get that cold feeling as your eyes take in it all in.

The movie isn't all gore and shock throughout. There are genuine moments of tenderness when father and son come together, bonding due to the tragedy of it all. Guilt and forgiveness are exchanged within a moments glance and you feel warm as you predict the Hollywood style happy ending. Boy meets girl and again the eyes exchange their words.

I'd like to tell you more, however I struggle to describe the journey ahead without giving it all away.

You'll be adding this to your list. A well told and chair pinning watch. However I won't be watching it again anytime soon. 6.8/10

You have to love Asian cinema. It never holds back on any topic no matter how insane. Here we have an entire film about a father and son who are basically neutered by the woman of the household out of revenge for adultery. The rest of the film is about the agony of men dealing with life bereft of their penises, and how they try to get their penises back. Keep in mind this film has no dialog whatsoever which is not an unnatural as you might think, but it is still quite odd and seems a bit unbelievable at times. Perhaps there is some connection between speech, the word, and the penis? Yet it also creates a kind of emotional intensity that sets the film apart. Like Pieta, I wonder what the point is of all the perversity in this film. I suppose if you want to tie it into Freudian psychology, Greek tragedy etc that is one approach. Perhaps it is an absurdist tale about modern nonsense. Perhaps the black comedy satire this film is, somehow helps us come to terms with out repressions in the modern age not to mention our materialism, and hypocrisy. There is a repeating theme in Kim-Ki Duk's films of redemption through religion. The son who is castrated finds redemption in the Buddha. The son pays for the father's 'sins' at the hands of the mother. The mother corrupts her son further through incest to spite the father. In Pieta, the only character at peace with themselves is the one who gives up materialism and seeks the Buddha. I notice a pattern in the films of Kim-Di-Duk. The agent of justice is as 'bad' as those they punish for their transgressions. The ideal of a heroic moralist is lost in this Korean film. Instead everyone continues to fuel the fire of their own personal karmic retribution getting deeper and deeper, never really getting to the end, just deeper. Of course I may see this idea through the western lens of morality, while karma is more of an inherent, impersonal law of cause and effect, that no one controls. It is a force of nature really, assuming our interpretation of it is correct.

But enough theory. The acting is strong in this film. The story line is captivating. This film makes insightful points about human 'nature' such as the intermingling of pain and pleasure, or the amorality of the human animal. The extreme topic of this film may be a bit gratuitous and make you wonder what the point is though. The actors portray their pain and suffering in a believable, compelling way. The dark subject matter makes the film unapproachable by most though. I don't mean dark in some emo, Gothic poser fashion. It is harrowing watching the actors go though their pain. Perhaps that is the point of this film...to watch people suffer and feel sorry for them while being repulsed at the same time.

Have you ever watched a film that brings your endurance to explicit (even sick!) blood and sex violence to its very limit while at the same time makes you laugh and depicts with smart (yet explicit!) cleverness one of the basic essentials of Buddhism?... No, I'm not trying to bring opposite worlds together, but Kim Ki-Duk did, in his film Moebius.

A truly masterpiece of cinema in its pure essence, compelling and with an stunning economy of resources: few settings, few actors, even the two female roles are played by the same actress (Eun-woo Lee) in an outstanding performance. Moebius tells a story with deep metaphysical symbolism using just images (there is no dialogs) and focusing exclusively and with dazzling clarity on the points important for the story and its meaning, namely the search for physical pleasure concomitant to the nature of every human being, and the main protagonist of this: a part of the male anatomy known as "penis".

Only after the last scene, when the young protagonist bows before Buddha, one can understand the whole meaning of the film, every piece fits then perfectly in the puzzle (emotional puzzle, we are not talking about crime and mystery here). Then we understand that pleasure (the main, maybe the only important one: sexual pleasure) comes always at a price in this world; pleasure involves pain one way or another. Not once in the film pleasure brings any kind of satisfaction or happiness, instead it causes distress, sorrow, guilt, pain, immediate or in the long term; many of the scenes in the film show the attainment of pleasure directly through pain, and with more pain as a consequence.

CAVEAT - SPOILER IN THIS LAST PARAGRAPH

But then, in the end, the young protagonist frees himself from this tie, through the most direct way: castration (well, there are actually several of these throughout the film, so WARNING for sensitive viewers!), and later, bowing before Buddha, he does something he had not done even once during the film: he SMILES, as Buddha did. He is released now from human passions, no longer slave of his desires, no longer subject to the inescapable search for pleasure of the physical body. He is now FREE

So you love your kid, but you will hurt him so cruelly just to get back at your cheating husband? As I always try to do: no spoilers on this review, because you got to see it for yourself, but fairly warned, this Korean movie is not for the squeamish! I felt compelled to stop watching, I felt my face with a cringing gesture, because I don't know if the writer is in the borderline of insanity and perversion. Is not an easy watch, and to make it more difficult for the viewer the lack of music and dialog, yes there is not a single spoken word from the protagonists, and there's nudity and rape scene so you are warned again. When I was a eight years old, the grownups talked about a shocking movie, that none of us the kids were allowed to see or discuss, as I grew up I watched the movie and read the novel "Los Cachorros" by Mario Vargas Llosa, wow! I never forgot the story and undoubtedly the film in question takes on a different "remake" from the Mexican film and the Peruvian novel, with some added twists and shocks! watching the first part of "Moebius" gave me a shiver, and made me remember "Fatal Attraction", I could mention Lorena Bobbitt but if you don't know who she is don't Google her, not before watching this movie! And remember do not mess up with an angry woman! I hope you get curious because I am writing nothing else, if you are brave enough, watch it if not yourself with a grownup, in no way whatsoever this can be a movie for young audience, anyway, whatever your judgment is, you may fell compelled on watching some innocent cartons to recover from "Moebius"