There are many movies with the theme of "imprisonment" in film history, from "The Sand Girl" by Emissary Kawara Hiroshi, "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Up" by Almodovar, to Lanthimos' "Dog Tooth", and more. There are the popular movie "Room" in recent years, and the classic Hollywood escape movie "The Shawshank Redemption". Many of them are describing a form of Stockholm syndrome in captives, such as the rich and handsome entomologist played by Okada Eiji in "The Lady of Sand" who is trapped in a small sand dune for months, and then loses his direction after being freed For example, Brooks, who was released from prison in "The Shawshank Redemption", felt that he was "institutionalized", and the heroine of "Tie Me, Tie Me" finally fell in love with her kidnapper, "Dog Tooth" It is a social experiment that directly and nakedly satirizes totalitarianism. Compared with the grand sociological significance these films are endowed with, Kim Ki-duk's "Bow" is obviously much more personal, and it shows a subtle, force-driven relationship between the sexes.
At the beginning of the film, the relationship between the old man and the girl is harmonious and stable, with the latter helping the former receive guests, and the former providing the latter with necessary protection. For example, when the first wave of tourists came with bad intentions to the girl, the old man stood on a high place and pulled the string of his bow at the tourists as a sign of intimidation. This kind of protective relationship is not one-sided. For example, the second wave of tourists went too far. The old man walked directly to them and pointed his bow at them to threaten, and then walked into the room with her shoulders. The two tourists tied the old man together. The girl used her familiarity with the structure of the boat to successfully protect the old man with a bow and shot the two tourists.
The image of "bow" can't be more straightforward. When it first appeared, it was used by the old man to repel tourists who tried to molest girls. This is a symbol of male power (used to protect women), and this bow is slightly adapted. , it became a kind of music similar to the erhu. Every night, the old man used it to play the music. At this time, the bow became a tool with soothing power and masculine tenderness.
At this point in the movie, the relationship between the two is still in a state of balance. Some tourists talk about them behind their backs, saying that they must sleep together at night. We know that is not the case. The two of them sleep on the bunk, although there is a scene where the old man bathes the girl. There is a very interesting plot. After experiencing the first wave of tourists, when I went to bed at night, I gave a scene where the old man stretched his hand to the lower bunk and held the girl's hand, and the latter did not refuse. The relationship between the two was vaguely uneasy.
What really broke this delicate relationship was the appearance of college students. As soon as this young and handsome male protagonist with a handsome face that resembled Liu Xiang appeared, we knew that he was not the same as the lewd tourists who were lewd and lewd, and the atmosphere also happened. Immediate change, it is clear that there is an attraction between teenage girls and college students. And the old man's sense of unease was obviously intensified. For example, he threw the headphones that the college student gave her to the ground. Putting the triangular relationship between the three on the table is a shot of taking a bath. The old man is rubbing the girl's back, but the girl's eyes are looking out of the high window and staring at the college student. This is a moment that sets off the theme: the relationship between aging men and budding young women is destined to be unbalanced, and it only needs a slightly youthful body to tempt, the old man has been painstakingly brewing for ten years. Desire" was turned into a bubble.
This is the second time the college student appears, and this triangular relationship is shown more bluntly. When sleeping at night, the old man continued to hold the girl's hand tightly, and the latter broke free in disgust; at the same time, the camera switched to the phone screen in the college student's hand, it was him A photo of the girl during the day. The girl secretly ran out of her room and went to the college student's bed. When the two were about to kiss, the old man found out, and the old man drove the college student away.
At this time, the old man's mentality was completely out of balance. He shot arrows at the tourists on the boat indiscriminately - originally he was only using it to intimidate, and he crossed off many days on the calendar - so that they could be closer to their wedding day. More recently, he dismantled the bunks where the two of them slept and merged them into one big bed, which almost touched the bottom line of ethical taboos - which he had always adhered to before. That night, there was a sudden storm at sea, which also indicated that the relationship between the two was as shaky as the ship.
The second reversal of the plot is that the college students come to the ship for the last time. As an ultimatum, the college students propose to use a fortune-telling to decide the fate of the girl. Here we should mention the repeated fortune-telling plot in the movie: the girl sits on a swing hanging on the bow of the boat, and the old man shoots the arrow at the hull of the boat from another boat, passing through the girl in front or behind, and shoots the arrow. on the Buddha statue in the middle hull. Afterwards, the girl took off the arrow and whispered to the old man, who also whispered the result to the fortune teller. We as bystanders had absolutely no idea what they were saying to each other.
This ritual is interesting and rather puzzling. First of all, it created an inexplicable sense of suspense for the film. When the old man's arrow was on the string, we always sweated for him, and we were relieved until the arrow whizzed past the girl. . Fortune-telling is actually the epitome of their twisted relationship: eccentric, dangerous, but deftly balanced. From another point of view, when fortune-telling, the old man actually has absolute control over the girl. As long as he wants, he can end her life with an arrow - corresponding to the relationship between the two in real life, the former The latter can be possessed anytime, anywhere, but he doesn't, and the latter never seems to be on guard (at the beginning of the film). From this metaphorical point of view, the change in the relationship between the two becomes clearer. During the first fortune-telling, the bystanders were nervous, but both of them were calm. In the last fortune-telling, the old man had obviously not enough control when he tightened the string, and his hands were shaking. The college student with an ominous premonition grabbed the swing and let the girl fall into the water.
In fact, it is difficult to end the story. If the girl ends up marrying the old man, we will feel sorry for her and the college student, and if she runs away with the college student, then we will also sympathize with the old man - no matter which ending, emotional are unacceptable. So, the film takes a middle-of-the-road approach. The old man and the maiden finished their wedding on the boat, and then the old man threw himself into the sea and left in a respectable manner. The next part is arguably the best part of the whole film. After the old man committed suicide, the boat carrying the sleeping girl on the deck slowly drifted to the other boat where the college students were. At the same time, the girl began to twist, her thighs were spread, and she gradually made a moaning sound that became more and more urgent. . When the scene cuts back, an arrow is inserted into the sheet between the girl's legs, and the unknown college student hugs the girl until she calms down. We saw again that where the arrow pierced through the girl's white nightdress, a blood-red ooze oozes. This surreal 'ghost sex' scene has been talked about by fans since then - the old man turned into an arrow and completed the copulation with the girl. After this climax, the college student took the girl away, the big ship gradually sank to the bottom of the sea, and the film ended.
I love this movie, it's a complete system of allegories, from the boat (the community of destiny for two people), to the bow (male genitalia), to fortune-telling (mysterious Buddhist rituals), it reflects our (East Asian) culture There is something in it - sexual repression, but few Chinese directors have the ability to give a visual interpretation of this culture in a purely symbolic way. The tone of the film seems calm, even lyrical, but it has a raw, violent temperament that is very powerful.
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