The Isle

Ayoung woman spends her time supervising local fishermen at a remote fishing ground.Written and directed by Kim Ki-Duk, The Isle is an effective tale about an obsessive romance. Hee-Jin is an attractive fishing-boat keeper on a lake and she serves the needs of all who come to stay in her waterbound holiday homes whether they to come to fish or for more sexual forms of recreation. She sells bait by day and her body by night.

When a young man Hyun-shik (Kim Yoo-Suk) comes to stay, Hee-Jin falls for him in a big way. She takes idle revenge on young girls that come to visit him, ignores others wanting things and tries to make sure that when she dangles her fishing rod in the water, Hee-Jin is going to be hooked. Exploring the grey area that exists in some forms of love, between pleasure and pain, The Isle is an enjoyable tale that may make you grimace when you see where some of the fish hooks end up but still seems quietly effective and most enjoyable as a kind of genre-defying Korean fishing thriller romance.

Matt Arnoldi