Last Updated on September 30, 2020 by rob
The elderly captain (Jeon Seong-hwang) of a fishing vessel plots his marriage to the beautiful teenage virgin (Seo Min-Jeong) he’s raised on the boat since she was a child. Renting his vessel out to fishing parties the captain proves a nifty shot with a bow and arrow when it comes to dissuading any contact between randy male visitors and his girl. But one day another party arrives and at the sight of a teenage boy (Seo Si-jeok) – and much to the old man’s disquiet – the girl finds her first true love.
Beguiling if occasionally squirm-inducing arthouse fare that initially looks like a conventional love triangle drama but under the surface seems more a symbolic rites-of-passage tale with boat and ocean as metaphorical womb and the girl’s eventual marriage/deflowering a kind of rebirth in which she’s made ready for the new world. There’s a strong supporting performance from Seong-hwang as the captain, in which both character and performance pleasingly sidestep the stereotype of the old lecher despite early indications to the contrary and Si-jeok is also fine as the boy. But the real star is 21 year old Seo Min-Jeong, who turns in a completely mesmerising performance as the girl, never saying a word but allowing every emotion she’s feeling to register on her face with such sincerity we empathise with her completely.
There’s some great imagery here – a swing hanging off the side of the boat that allows the girl’s feet to lightly brush the surface of the ocean, a strange fortune telling ritual in which the captain shoots arrows into the face of a giant, painted Buddha on the ship’s side while the girl swings back and forth in front of the lethal arrows(!) and a climactic marriage ceremony that isn’t at all what one expects. The expected consummation of this is even stranger and arguably the moment where the director allows the symbolism to get out of control to the point its likely to provoke unintentional giggles. Still, I found the whole thing assured, playful (a sequence in which a couple of horny fishermen chase the girl around her tiny home without realising just how outmatched they are is a hoot) and quite compelling.
