Review of The Isle (2000) by Green P — 01 Jan 2008

"The Isle" is the story of the relationship between a depressive male and a mute female. She runs a fishing retreat which takes the form of a number of small floating huts on a lake, and he is one of a number of her customers. Their bizarre relationship revolves around his violence both towards himself and her, and her jealousy and her equally extreme self-harming practises.

An extremely well-filmed movie, in typically beautiful oriental style with mist rolling over the lakes and deep blue hues, the film is let down by its sheer pointlessness.

In terms of the film's self-promotion as extreme perversion, whilst the viewing is certainly not mainstream, I wouldn't rate it as overly extreme. The self-harming incidents which are the main pieces of uncomfortable viewing are spread fairly far apart and between them the film can be a little slow. In fact, the 'worst' case of the woman's self-harming, towards the end of the film, is actually strangely comic in its execution.

More could have been done with the particularly interesting psychology of the woman. For instance her tendency to swim underwater at night and spy on her customers by sneaking up through the trapdoor in the huts' floors could have been pursued with great effect.

So in summary it was, for me, certainly a watchable film but neither as perversely offensive as it claims, nor does it hold a meaningful story. So despite its strong cinematography I'm giving it an average vote.