Pluskylang Great Film overall

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

hokeybutt SAMARITAN GIRL (3 outta 5 stars) Two high school girls finance a holiday trip they want to take by turning to prostitution. Yeo-Jin lures men via internet chat rooms and her cell phone while Jae-Yeong actually has sex with them. All goes well until Jae-Yeong dives out of a three story window to evade the police. Overcome with remorse, Yeo-Jin contacts all their old customers to sleep with them and return their money. In the meantime, Yeo-Jin's father discovers what his daughter is doing when she should be in school and his vengeance against the men despoiling his daughter keeps escalating. A simple story... the plot sounds very sleazy but the emotional subtext elevates the story into a truly heartbreaking drama. The scene where the father confronts one of his daughter's clients in front of his family is extremely powerful. The sad, tender finale is also well portrayed.

mattysid I have lived in Korea for the last four years and have been fortunate enough to experience many excellent movies. Of course this is highly debatable, and maybe bias on my behalf, but South Korea is producing not only some of the best movies in the world at the moment but some of the most provocative and thought provoking movies, of which Samaria is probably the prime example.In NaBeunNamJa (BadGuy) Kim Di Duk already dealt with prostitution, however talking to Korean people I think that Samaria is a better account of the true nature of Korean society and the Korean sex industry as a whole. It is because of this that I would like to address some misconceptions that people have of the movie from previous posts and reviews. I promise that I will review the movie later, if you bear with me.First of all, Korean directors are making their movies for the domestic market (which is the third biggest domestic market in the world after Hollywood and bollywood) and therefore tailor their movies to the culture and beliefs that prevail in the domestic market.Teenage prostitution is an unfortunate, but common, aspect of Korean society. In this movie the Director, Kim Di Duk, is only portraying what is the norm in Korean society. It is not uncommon, although I am unable to provide statistics, that many high school and university students and even middle school students, pay for or supplement their tuition fees through the sex industry; although this is not always in the form of prostitution, but sometimes just 'entertaining' men in 'salon' bars. It is a sad reflection of a society that the 'education fever' is so strong that young girls will resort too any means too pay for their education. In this respect Kim Di Duk has hit the nail on the head.A couple of reviewers mentioned the 'shower' / 'sauna' / 'bath-house' scene between the two girls. For those that mentioned it, there is nothing absolutely remotely sexual (or as one reviewer mentioned 'Lesbian') in these scenes whatsoever! Visiting 'bath houses in Korean is an everyday part of Korean life, even as a Westerner I often frequent these places. It is considered normal for women to wash other women and also the same for men. Relationships between the sexes here is different, but refreshing, it is not uncommon to see people of the same sex walking down the street together holding hands or with their arm around another. It takes a while to get used to but once you get used to the nature of the touchy feely nature of Korean people it don't half help you get over any latent homophobic feelings you have! Anyhow, on to movie...I had heard a lot about this movie, the only Kim Di Duk movie I had seen before this was BadGuy, which I thought was OK, but a bit clichéd.This movie blew my mind. However the first part of the movie, the relationship between the two girls, although fairly accurate in terms of Korean society didn't grab me as much as the 'second act' of the movie.Previous reviews, have given enough details on the plot of the movie which I am not going to re-hash, however there is one scene in this movie that in my own humble opinion has to be one of the most incredible pieces of film making and script writing that I have ever seen on celluloid.PLEASE DON'T CONTINUE TO READ THIS POST IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE. Because I think this scene should be seen in it's bleak and raw frankness that the director intended.For those that have seen this movie, I am talking about the scene where the father goes to the apartment of the man who is having sex with his daughter and confronts the man in front of his family. What is most shocking about this scene is that the man's daughter is older than the father's daughter.Never in all the movies have I seen a scene so heart breaking, thought provoking and shocking and so well filmed than this. For anyone still reading who hasn't seen this movie I will omit how this scene finishes... still sends shivers down my spine now writing about it! Well sorry to rant! Please watch this movie, and take into mind what I said about Korean society. For those who don't know Korean cinema, also please check out Chingoo (Friend) YupGiJeogInGeoNya(My sassy girl), Memories of Murder, NaBeunNamJa (BadGuy),TaeGeukki ... etc. etc.

racecaraddict2400 Samaritan Girl is a really impressive film directed by Ki-Duk Kim. To end all the discrepancies about the title, the film has been illegally bootlegged as 'Samaria'. The real official title of this film in English is "Samaritan Girl". The film is coming out on official non-bootlegged DVD from Tartan's Asia Extreme...which I should add, have been putting out some awesome Asian films on DVD, not to mention they are the ones responsible for getting 'Oldboy' in the theater.Anyway, Samaritan Girl is not like the rest of the Asia Extreme catalog. It's a sexy drama that is also a really interesting slice of life film. Most Korean films that have been picked up by American distributors tend to be horror or thrillers but maybe that's because blood/slasher movies sell really well. Samaritan Girl on the other hand is far from a slasher, and while there is some violence, some nudity, and blood, it's really more like a Korean interpretation of the American indie film.The story is about two girls who are trying to save up money to get away from their town. They don't really have strong relationships with their families who are sort of out of the picture. It's like the Larry Clark film KIDS in the way that the parents aren't really there, or at least the parents think they know their kids, but they don't. Jae-Yeong, the prettier of the two girls decides to be a prostitute and makes her friend Yeo Jin, her business associate who sets up the meetings.The film's opener is awesome, with a really great credit sequence over the girls on Korea's instant messaging program picking up a guy.As the film progresses, there is some interesting sexual tension between the girls. They bathe together in a public shower house which is really sad and illuminates their aloneness. Yeo Jin tells Jae Young not to divulge to much to her 'clients'. Jae-Young who is clearly very childish, capricious, and obviously depressed and lacking self esteem, actually enjoys these encounters with men, as the attention is probably what makes her feel good about herself.About halfway through the film, Jae-Young has an accident (I wont give anything away here) but Yeo Jin decides to switch roles and become the prostitute instead of the secretary. Yeo Jin's father gets wind of the whole thing and starts to follow her on her sexual encounters. He eventually catches her in the act...and I wont give away the end.The film is really well done. And frankly, the two girls are really adorable and the film is really sweet and sad at the same time. It's also disturbing a lot of the time.If you're not in the mood to see people getting chopped to bits, but would rather watch an awesome Korean indie film (With really cute actresses, I should mention) this film is a great one to check out.

Boris-57 This is my fourth film by Ki-Duk Kim (after Spring, Summer... / The Isle / 3-Iron), and he scores one minus (The Isle, despite stunning cinematography), one very good (Spring), and two absolutely magnificent. Despite the fact that I liked 3-Iron just a bit better because of the more straightforward story and consistent way of story telling, Samaria comes very close.I'm not going to spoil things for you, but I'd just point out that this is yet another highly symbolic film, so much in fact, that this second (symbolic) level is probably more easily understood than the basic story. Not that it's complicated, it's just that story and meaning are not as closely interwoven as in 3-Iron, where the overlap between the two made possible an ambiguous reality that led to sublimation. Here, it takes a while for the two levels to touch.The feeling following 3-Iron was that of reaching an asymptote - only the infinite was beyond. In Samaria, you feel like some serious stuff happened but what's done is done and the road lies open. We're at a starting point, which is not quite zero but feels like it. Well now, you can hardly call that a spoiler 'cause I hardly understand it myself. But you'll see what I mean after seeing it.The story, which seems to start out as something different that what it turns out to be, must be one of the most poignant symbolic depictions of the point at which a parent has to let his/her kid go and realise he/she's not needed anymore - or not like before. Also, silence, without being as overwhelming as in 3-Iron, plays an important role. In 3-Iron, good stuff happened because of silence; here, a lot of not so good things happen because of it, but some good things can happen in spite of silence. The ending can be very sad or neutral or have the potential for hope, if you choose my story interpretation. But who am I?What? Still reading this? - off you go to the video store. Chop chop!Note: does anyone realise just how brilliant Kim Ki-Duk is when shooting indoor scenes?! Framing, camera movement, light - you name it - sheer perfection.