Moebius (2013) FILM REVIEW. UK Premiere in the 6th Terracotta Far East Film Festival 2014

by Adnan Kundi
June 2, 2014
in EVENTS, FILM REVIEWS, KOREA, TERRACOTA FAR EAST FILM FESTIVAL
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Director Kim Ki-duk

Before the screening of Moebius, there was a brief message by Kim Ki-duk. He was not present at the screening of the film, so a video recorded message was shown, in which he asked to pardon his absence as he was busy in the shooting of his upcoming film ‘One vs One’. About the film he said that he has tried to show different aspects of life through sex, and that everything in one way or the other is connected to us humans through sex. When the lead actor Seo Young-joo came to introduce the film, he said that even he did not know that the outcome of the movie would be so shocking, but he also said that try not to think of the shocking scenes, but look for the message behind them.

Moebius started out very calmly, and with time gained its momentum absorbing the interest of the audience and making them want to see more. The sex, the blood, the strange psychologically disturbing scenes and some very funny instances left the audience wanting to see more, awed, disturbed and uncontrollably laughing.

Seo Young-joo, the reserved son

Did I say that this film is dialogue free? Yes, this film has no dialogues. Everything is done through showing human emotions, face expressions and the natural sounds around the characters. Although at some places you might expect them to talk, but Director Kim Ki-duk has very masterfully prevented that from happening.

Eun-woo Lee, the enraged mother

The story revolves around a dysfunctional family, a father (Jae-hyeon Jo), mother (Eun-woo Lee) and a son (Young-ju Seo). The father is an adulterer and the mother, who knows about the father’s affair, is always in rage, which has also left her psychologically disturbed. The son is a quiet and reserved boy, while at the same time he is aware of what’s happening between his parents. The movie turns bloody when in a fit of rage, the mother tries to castrate the father, and when she fails to do so, turns on her son. The movie thus goes on through different twists and turns in the plot.

Jae-hyeon Jo, the adulterer father

After the screening the lead actor Seo Young-joo attended the Q&A session in which he was asked different questions concerning the movie. About the message behind the movie, he said that the message is repetition, that one thing happens over and over again, but by different people. He was asked how long Kim Ki-duk took to shoot Moebius, and he said it just took a week for him to shoot, which was very surprising for the audience. Concerning his parents’ reaction towards doing this kind of a gory, strangely erotic film he said that they might not have really liked it, but still said it’s good you did a good job. As he is an underage actor, and for this movie he had to do certain scenes which were erotic, he was asked how he managed to go through this experience with his co-star Eun-Woo Lee. He said that at first he was hesitant, but the actress with whom he acted told him that it is ok, and it is not something that will hurt you. Plus, he said he did a bit of a research before doing those strange erotic scenes, and thus made them look natural. There was one question which left Seo Young-joo wondering about and that was a question asked by me. I asked about the significance of the statue of the dog. Seo young-joo was completely taken by surprise because he didn’t remember about any dog in the film. I reminded him that it was shown in the beginning and in the end of the film. It suddenly clicked him and said that it was just there and didn’t have any significance. But I personally think that the statue of the dog, which was shown only in the beginning and the end, would have some kind of a meaning, which Director Kim Ki-duk would surely know.

I wonder what the script of this film would be like, because there were no dialogues. I think it might all be in the form of description, but Seo Young-joo said that before filming the scenes, he and his co-stars would sit with the director and think out what to do and how to do. This made it easy for the actors to act and improvise in their individual roles, and improvise the script. The Cinematography was all done by Kim Ki-duk himself. As he is famous for finishing his films in a very short period of time, he must be very good at planning out the camera work, which in this film was flawless. Each actor played their roles in a befitting manner. At some places the acting lacked a little bit, and a second or third take would have made it much better, but as Seo Young-joo said that no second takes were taken, thus, Director Kim Ki-duk used the first takes to complete the film.

Eun-woo Lee and Seo Young-joo

If you’re a fan of films depicting strange eroticism, psychologically disturbed characters and gory scenes, then Moebius is a must. But, if you’re not, then just try out this film. It is worth a watch once, if not twice. I watched it in the cinema, and it was a great experience, thus, I might drag myself to watch it again.