Ieoh Island

A company plans to open a spa hotel to be named after Ieodo, a legend in the Korean sea: an island where the souls of drowned sailors are said to go. On a trip arranged for the project a journalist disappears; he is said to have gone off the deck but there is no witness. A man from the company goes to the neighbouring island to trace him. There are almost only women there; most of the men died at sea and the women live by diving. Kim Ki-young directs. Kim Ki-young is among the most singular directors in Korean cinema; his films sit between melodrama, horror and the grotesque and went insufficiently known for a long time. The narrative begins like an investigation into a disappearance and gradually becomes something else; flashbacks, what the islanders say and their beliefs are folded together. The matter at the centre is how women live in an order without men; the island is presented neither as a utopia nor as a trap. The work of the diving women is given in detail and the profession is real in Korea. The last section is direct and strange; the narrative leaves realism entirely, and that is what is most discussed about the film. Who it is for: viewers who like the classics of Korean cinema and strange, unclassifiable films. Who it is not for: the prints are worn, the narrative is scattered, and the ending is disturbing.