Henry Fields In "Samaritan girl" Ki-Duk put his cinema of poetry and tragedy at the service of a young girl who wants to redeem her dead friend (who was a prostitute) giving the money back to all of her customers.As usual Ki-duk takes care of each and every sequence; his movies are just like a succession of pictures that sometimes are full of beauty and some others are full of brutality. "Samaritan girl" is less reflexive and less contemplative than "The arc" or "Spring, summer, autumn...", there are more dialogs and the plot is much more worldly.If you like the movies of this Korean director you're gonna enjoy this one, but if you haven't seen any of his works I recommend that you watch "Iron 3" or "The isle" first...*My rate: 7/10

dromasca The disadvantage of having done such a masterpiece as 'Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring' is that those who saw it will compare for a long time any new film with that milestone. This is maybe the reason for which 'Samaria', although an interesting film by most criteria leaves a certain feeling of disappointment.There are three levels of a story, three levels of love in this film. It starts like a teenage prostitution movie, with one girl practicing the most ancient profession in order to gather money for a trip to Europe. Her friend and confident witnesses and is in full confidence of all, until one day the first girl commits suicide, for quite unclear reasons (did she become ashamed? afraid she will be caught, as the police is searching around after a serial prostitutes killer?). This is wrong love, and her friend decides to undo the evil, by sleeping with all her friends client and returning them the money. Buddhist purification? It's a Kin Ki-duk film, do not expect answers. When the father of the surviving friend who happens to be the policeman in charge with the murders discovers what his daughter is doing, he starts on a love mission of his own, trying to stop, and then to take revenge over his daughter's exploiters. The film has two alternate endings, at least one is a dream, maybe both.As in other films of his, violence seems to be part of life in Kim Ki-duk's movie, and it's not the graphical violence that shocks, but the tranquility of the violence. It's even more upsetting so, as it says something like violence sleeps in any quite man or object, it can burst at any time in our lives.It's an intriguing movie, but I miss the simplicity and consistent style and beauty which Kim revealed in 'Spring ...'. As I said, maybe it's not fair to compare all the time with that pick, but it takes a long to forget that great movie.

jimi99 SPOILER: READ THIS ONLY IF YOU HAVE SEEN THE FILM! "Samaritan Girl" is a brilliant and haunting film, but the double ending may be difficult for many Western non-Buddhist minds to understand. This is how I saw the ending and the motivations leading up to it: The father is the prostitute-killer, that is why he becomes psychotic when he discovers his daughter is one. He plans the trip to the wife/mother's grave, intending to kill the daughter and then turn himself in. This is exactly what he does. The second ending, when the girl wakes up again and the father has (impossibly) painted hundreds of stones yellow so she can practice driving the car, is in reality her death-dream, her transition into the bardo, and chasing her father after he has been picked up by the police is part of her letting-go.

Chris Blachewicz This is the only Kim's movie I've seen up to this day, but after "Samaria" I know I got to dig! The story's told in a very subtle, delicate way. The movie transforms itself slowly with time, which makes it more entertaining. The script is solid and the acting is good (these young girls sure can play!), which combined gives what every movie fan probably wants to see, although you got to be in the specific mood for this one. It's not a comedy, it's not an action flick. Kim gives us fragment of three people's existence, which leaves viewer with subtle and melancholic after-effects. If you're into that kind of stuff, you should sure as hell get it.