Samaritan Girl

Samaritan Girl (Samaria)
Dir. Kim Ki-Duk

I began to wonder if I was insane. I found that, contrary to the few critics who watched it, including one of my faves Johnathan Rosenbaum, I quite liked Samaria. Though, after reading the piece on the film at Senses of Cinema, I feel writing any kind of review would be completely superfluous, as this person has said just about everything I’d have to say about it. It is the one occasion where I found Rosenbaum’s deconstructionist approach worthless, though he has a point when he says the first third is too literal and it has all answers and no questions. He admits to being lost in the third act, though that doesn’t stop him from being completely dismissive of the film.

Must say, though, that this film is a strictly cineaste-only piece. If you’re the type who reflexively hates films that “try to be arty” or have a distaste for films with difficult subject matter, then you’ll find little to enjoy here. Like most of Kim’s work, it’s grey and dank and tawdles along, without speed but with much purpose.

It’s showing on the Sundance Channel, and of course you can hit up Netflix to get it.