Samaritan Girl

In between his gloriously Zen Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring and his urban Goldilocks fairy tale 3-Iron, Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-duk made this arcane and provocative film, and taken together, the trio of films cements his reputation as one of the most astonishing artists working in cinema today. Rage, forgiveness, castigation, and redemption are the four emotional states driving the winding, unpredictable paths of Samaritan Girl, which revolves around the relationships between two teenage girls, Yeo-jin (Ji-min Kwak) and Jae-young (Min-jeong Seo), who turn to prostitution to make money to run away to Europe, and between Yeo-jin and her cop father (Eol Lee), who discovers his daughter's secret work and lashes out at her clients. The wild, startling plot swings emerge from the subtle and meditative acts of perplexed people who can't come to terms with their own anger at the world or with betrayals from those they love. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a "making-of" featurette and interviews with the filmmakers. Bottom line: a small but solid extras package for a challenging film.] (M. Johanson)