Samaritan Girl (2004)

I love this movie so much

Sadly Over-hyped

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

i watched this movie yesterday and it was a very refreshing viewing. though i don't see how anybody could see the logic behind the young girl's actions and her reasons, i fell in love with the way the movie is wrapped about in the end. it all makes sense in a very abstract way. leaving you to savor the taste of the movie long after you have watched it. even though the first half is a bit unconventional the latter half adds up so much to the confusion. you fall in love with the 2 protagonist. the father and the daughter. and the way the final message that comes out of the movie, of forgiveness, unconditional love, and acceptance, is very beautiful and at the same time so tragic. you are torn between the girl's stupidity and grief and sorrow of a loving father. in the base both are a epitome of sacrifice for their beloved, and both show what unconditional love is. you will love it after you have watched it.

Ultimately I liked this a lot, although it was very strange. It went through at least three completely different, distinct tones and styles over the course of the film. At first it played like a slightly skewed, but still rather melodramatic, teen drama, almost like one of those Korean soap operas. Very different from my previous exposure to Kim Ki-Duk. Then it started to become a violent revenge story, like something Chan Wook-Park would do. Still sort of more conventional than other Kim Ki-Duk though, not at all minimalistic or slow. The beginning part was actually somewhat contrived, not like an "art" film at all, in any sense of the word. But then, in it's last third, the film becomes an abstract road movie, much more in the style i've previously associated with Kin Ki-Duk. I certainly can't say that this is a consistent film, and the pacing was obviously rather uneven given the gradual transition from borderline-conventional melodrama into minimalistic, impressionistic art film, but overall there was something about it that I liked a lot. Through all the muddledness, i can tell that Kim Ki-Duk is an interesting filmmaker. There's obviously something going on in his films worth taking note of.

For some reason Korean movies has a great "hip factor" nowadays and I have some difficulties seeing the point. Today you are not supposed to object to the violence, regardless of how brutal it is. Somebody has decided that this is nerdish and that "somebody" everyone has to obey.You've probably seen worse brutality than in "Samaria", but anyway it is the violence that makes the whole thing so difficult to understand. OK, a father is out on a vigilante tour after realizing his daughter is a prostitute, although she, for certain reasons, pay her customers and not the opposite. The father's feelings are anyway not understandable. You've got no keys to them. It's not enough showing him just sorry and humiliated.The reconciliation scene in the end is however beautiful and made in an uncommon way. But it doesn't make the film more understandable. This is done too hasty. Even Korean film might be just on an average level.

Director Ki-Duk Kim gave us an emotive history divided in three parts. Probably a lot of viewers think on this movie as sad, frustrating and even violent, but in fact this film is nothing but an optimistic way to see life and to bring people with simplicity and second chances. We are humans and we have the right to make mistakes, some times you won't have the chance to redeem your self, but in other cases you have that opportunity.In the first history, we can witness the deep friendship between two teenager girls (Yeo-Jin and Jae-Yeong). Both have different characters: one is a happy and optimistic girl, she always has a smile in her face; the other girl on the contrary has a terrible attitude against everyone but her father and girlfriend. They are prostitutes, at least one arranges everything and the other do the "dirty job". So far the main history involves only the two young girls. They have a detailed black book with the names and telephones of their clients. Then the ending, a fatal catastrophe. Police finds out that a minor is in a room with and adult. The girl jumps out of a window and hits her head against the floor. She dies the day after with a big smile. The other girl starts shouting: Stop laughing! Stop laughing! The second history is about redemption: The girl feels guilty about her friend, so she decides to settle up appointments with all the customers to have sex with them and to return the payment made to the other girl. She changed her attitude radically and starts smiling, just like her friend. She realizes that every time she returns the money, she starts feeling better and better. One day she was with one client and her father was in the opposite building. He saw his daughter in a room with a man. He can't believe it and in this exactly point is where the third story begins.This sub-plot, is the most violent and in the same time the most beautiful of the movie. Violent at the beginning because the police officer (father of the girl) wants revenge. In his quest he attacks the man who was with his little one at the motel, he is responsible of a man's suicide and responsible of a murder, violent murder. The list was complete and then the history becomes beautiful. The father looks with his daughter forgiveness and a new beginning. In the grave of the death mother, they started a ritual. In the way back from the grave, took place the most beautiful scene of the movie: the car is stocked, the father removes some rocks from the stocked tire, but not enough. Returns to the car and close his eyes. The girl got out of the car and starts to remove the remaining rocks. An excellent sequence, we can solve our problems together! We are here for that. They spend the night in an old cabin. He told his daughter a history about one's virgin appearance in the top of a hill. They did the same. He returned the virginity to his daughter. She realizes that he knows. In the middle of the night he cries. By the end of the movie the girl has a dream where the father is killing and buried her, but when she woke up her father made something totally different: taught her how to drive car. They started the lessons and the father said: Now is the turn to drive by your own! A police car arrives and the father got in. The girl started to drive but she was unable to follow the police car. She is now by her own, but with a new beginning.A very emotive film, with excellent cinematography. Kim, besides to be the director, is responsible of writing, editing, producing and even set decoration. I recommend this movie to watch, analyze and comment about it. Another thing about this film is the acting performances by the two young girls. A must see movie.