Samaria (2004)

Director:

Ki-duk Kim

Writer:

Ki-duk Kim

Release Date:

5 March 2004 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Jae-Young is an amateur prostitute who sleeps with men while her best friend Yeo-Jin "manages" her, fixing dates...

Plot Keywords:

Prostitute | Police Officer | Father | Murder | Father Daughter Relationship

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Yeo-reum Han	...	Jae-yeong (as Min-jeong Seo)
Ji-min Kwak	...	Yeo-jin
Eol Lee	...	Yeong-ki
Kwon Hyun-Min	...	Salesman
Oh Young	...	Musician
Gyun-Ho Im	...	Tidily Guy
Lee Jong-Gil	...	Happy Guy
Shin Taek-Ki	...	Suicide
Jung-gi Park	...	Murder Victim
Gul-seon Kim	...	Second Salesman
Seung-won Seo	...	Man in his 30s
Yoo Jae-Ik	...	Pedestrian
In-gi Jeong	...	Ki-Su
Jin-bae Jeon	...	Policeman #1
Yook Sae-Jin	...	Policeman #2

Directed by
Ki-duk Kim

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Ki-duk Kim

Produced by
Jeong-min Bae	....	producer
Jeong-min Baek	....	producer
Dong-joo Kim	....	executive producer
Ki-duk Kim	....	executive producer
Yun-ho Kim	....	co-executive producer

Original Music by
Park Ji
Ji-woong Park

Cinematography by
Sun Sang-Jae
Sang-jae Seon

Film Editing by
Ki-duk Kim

Set Decoration by
Ki-duk Kim

Costume Design by
Lim Seung-Hee

Makeup Department
Lim Seung-Hee	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Chul-soo Jang	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Song Je-Yin	....	sound
Sang-gyun Park	....	sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Tae-hoon Kim	....	visual effects supervisor

Production Companies

• Kim Ki-Duk Film

Distributors

• Cineclick Asia (2004) (worldwide) (all media) (sales)
• Show East (2004) (South Korea) (theatrical)
• AmaFilms (2004) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Bac Films (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Cineworx (2005) (Switzerland) (theatrical)
• Eurocine Films (2005) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Filmhouse (2005) (Mexico) (theatrical)
• Mikado (2005) (Italy) (theatrical)
• Rapid Eye Movies (2004) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Toshiba Entertainment (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Bir Film (2005) (Turkey) (all media)
• Dolmen Home Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• Fundamental Films (2009) (China) (TV)
• Future Film (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Happinet Corporation (2005) (Japan) (DVD)
• Palisades Tartan (2009) (UK) (all media)
• Palisades Tartan (2004) (USA) (all media)
• Tartan Video USA (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Tartan Video (2006) (UK) (DVD)
• Visionary Thinking (2004) (Bosnia-Herzegovina) (all media)
• Visionary Thinking (2004) (Serbia and Montenegro) (all media)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production
• HFR  dailies

Also Known As:

"Samaritan Girl" - International (English title)
"Самаритянка" - Russia
"Az irgalmas lány" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Fedakâr kiz" - Turkey (Turkish title)
"La samaritana" - Italy
"Por amor o por deseo" - Mexico (festival title)
"Samaaria tüdruk" - Estonia
"Samaria" - France
"Samaritan Girl" - Sweden
"Samaritan Girl" - Denmark (imdb display title)
"Samaritan Girl" - Spain
"Samaritana" - Portugal (imdb display title)
"Samarytanka" - Poland (imdb display title)
"To koritsi me to angeliko prosopo" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and sexual content

Runtime:

Germany:95 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Dolby SR

Certification:

Spain:18 | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:M18 | Netherlands:16 | UK:15 | Mexico:B15 | Denmark:15 | South Korea:18 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:IIB | USA:R | Germany:16 | Japan:R-15 | Sweden:15

Company:

Kim Ki-Duk Film

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the father teaches the daughter to drive the car, the sound equipment (front window) and the crew (side window) are reflected in the windows of the car.

Soundtrack:

Gymnopédies - La 1 Ere. Lent et Douloureux

Brilliant and frustrating at an equal measure.

This is undeniably a work of considerable formal rigor. Director Kim Ki-Duk uses deceptively simple but tellingly precise visual compositions to narrate his seemingly simple tale of loss of innocence, guilt and redemption. Initially everything seems transparent and self-evident in the story until intangible elements slowly seep into the structure causing ambiguity and bringing emotional turmoil that remains mostly subdued. The main plot premise, however, might seem a bit exaggerated or overblown to someone who cannot easily accept the depicted motivations for the actions of the two main characters (the girl and its father), especially considering the scarcity of social or psychological signifiers. Consequently, the movie works better on a symbolic than dramatic level, as its wonderfully concise final scene demonstrates. A must see.