![]()
|
|
|
CONSENSUS
A compelling and oddly haunting combination of brutal and beautiful imagery.
CAST & CREW
Jae Hyun Cho, Hang-Seon Jang, Suh Jung
Directed by Kim Ki-Duk
more...
SYNOPSIS
The eerily beautiful photography and melodic musical score of THE ISLE stand in odd contrast to the brutal horror story it tells. more...
MPAA RATING
Not Rated
RUNTIME
85 minutes
RELEASE DATES
Theatrical: Aug 23, 2002
Video: May 20, 2003
RELEASE COMPANY
Empire Pictures
GENRE
Foreign Films, Korean, Horror, Suspense, Rape, Violence, Prostitutes/Whores, Sadomasochism (S&m), Criminals
------------------------------
TRAILER & MEDIA
TIDBITS
SUBMIT/EDIT ARTICLE
SUBMIT USER REVIEW
FORUM
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 "A potent allegorical love story."
-- Scott Tobias, ONION AV CLUB
"Made me unintentionally famous — as the queasy-stomached critic who staggered from the theater and blacked out in the lobby. But believe it or not, it's one of the most beautiful, evocative works I've seen."
-- Joshua Tanzer, OFFOFFOFF
 "Sushi for the connoisseurs of the macabre."
-- Dennis Schwartz, OZUS' WORLD MOVIE REVIEWS
"A continually fascinating exploration of the physical and psychological pain and pleasure of a bizarre relationship."
-- Ed Scheid, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
"The vivid lead performances sustain interest and empathy, but the journey is far more interesting than the final destination."
-- Joe Leydon, SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER
"While The Isle is both preposterous and thoroughly misogynistic, its vistas are incredibly beautiful to look at."
-- Ed Gonzalez, SLANT MAGAZINE
"Kim Ki-Deok seems to have in mind an (emotionally at least) adolescent audience demanding regular shocks and bouts of barely defensible sexual violence to keep it interested."
-- Richard Falcon, SIGHT AND SOUND
"The evocative imagery and gentle, lapping rhythms of this film are infectious -- it gets under our skin and draws us in long before the plot kicks into gear."
-- Rich Cline, FILM THREAT
"Be forewarned, if you're depressed about anything before watching this film, you may just end up trying to drown yourself in a lake afterwards."
-- Eric Campos, FILM THREAT
"Solid. Isn't as groundbreaking as Shiri, but has its moments."
-- Fred Hong Joo Jung, KOREA TIMES
|
|
"Equal parts Takashi Miike and Shohei Imamura."
-- Jon Popick, PLANET SICK-BOY
"Too restrained to be a freak show, too mercenary and obvious to be cerebral, too dull and pretentious to be engaging...The Isle defies an easy categorization."
-- Jeremiah Kipp, FILMCRITIC.COM
"Exerts a strange sort of power that makes for compelling viewing, even as its images force one to repeatedly look away."
-- Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"Its juxtaposition of overwrought existentialism and stomach-churning gore will have you forever on the verge of either cracking up or throwing up."
-- Mike D'Angelo, TIME OUT NEW YORK
"If you can get past the fantastical aspects and harsh realities of “The Isle” you’ll get a sock-you-in-the-eye flick that is a visual tour-de-force and a story that is unlike any you will likely see anywhere else."
-- Robin Clifford, REELING REVIEWS
"Though the controversial Korean filmmaker's latest effort is not for all tastes, it offers gorgeous imagery, effective performances, and an increasingly unsettling sense of foreboding."
-- Rod Armstrong, REEL.COM
|
|
|
FRESH 86%
Avg. Rating: 6.8/10 |
"Once [Kim] begins to overplay the shock tactics and bait-and-tackle metaphors, you may decide it's too high a price to pay for a shimmering picture postcard."
-- Jan Stuart, NEWSDAY
"Daring, mesmerizing and exceedingly hard to forget."
-- V.A. Musetto, NEW YORK POST
"A gorgeous and grotesque Korean film by director Kim Ki-Duk, who seems torn by his artistic and exploitive impulses."
-- Carla Meyer, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"There is little question that this is a serious work by an important director who has something new to say about how, in the flip-flop of courtship, we often reel in when we should be playing out."
-- Glenn Lovell, SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
"As gory as the scenes of torture and self-mutilation may be, they are pitted against shimmering cinematography that lends the setting the ethereal beauty of an Asian landscape painting."
-- Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES
"Beautiful, angry and sad, with a curious sick poetry, as if the Marquis de Sade had gone in for pastel landscapes."
-- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"I don't think I've been as entranced and appalled by an Asian film since Shinya Tsukamoto's Iron Man."
-- Michael Atkinson, VILLAGE VOICE
|
|
|
|
|
* Who are the Approved Tomatometer Critics?
* Mouse over a tomato icon for a publication's original rating. Original rating not available for every publication.
* In fairness to critics whose last name begins with a letter at the end of the alphabet, certain pages are sorted in reverse order, z-a.
* Certain "The Isle" article data provided by the Movie Review Query Engine.
|
|
|
|
|
Log In 
