Kim Ki-Duk's twelfth film, The Bow is a minimalist film that manages to be beautiful, creepy, heart-wrenching, and a little silly all at the same time.<br /><br />An Sixty year old man lives on a fishing boat in the middle of the sea with a young girl (Both characters are never named) who he has taken care of since she was six, and will soon turn sixteen. On her sixteenth birthday, the old man plans to marry her. Everything seems to be going the fine for the couple, until one day a young boy steps on the fishing boat and changes their lives forever.<br /><br />Those familiar with Kim Ki-Duk's films will no doubt find this to be true to his directing form; Slow pacing, subtle performances, first class cinematography, a simplistic story, and very little dialog. In fact, the old man and the young girl never say a audible word for the entire length of the film. Kim Ki-Duk's films often rely on facial expressions and gestures to convey the emotions of his characters, rather than loads of dialog. That being said, some accuse The Bow of being one of the Director's more commercial films, I agree with this thesis, but only up until a point(without giving anything away), the ending of The Bow is kinda bizarre and will seem almost silly to some viewers.<br /><br />One of the films big strengths is the score. Enchanting piano and strings help set The Bow's moods and are crucial to the film. The film's score is so prominent that the music itself is almost as important a character as the actor's.<br /><br />And in terms of acting, it's strong performances all around. As I mentioned there is not a lot of dialog in the film, the little of it coming from the young boy. Even though there's no speaking parts for two major characters, the film's acting does not suffer. One of Kim Ki-Duk's biggest attributes as a director, is that he is able to elicit more emotion from his actor's performances with a subtle glance or a mild gesture, than most filmmakers can get with ten minutes of dialog.<br /><br />I will caution that some viewers may feel a little disgusted by the films story of the relationship between the young girl and the old man. I found it to be a tad creepy at times but I also felt deep sorrow for the old man, as the introduction of the young boy to the boat pushes the two-who were once so close-apart. The old man is forced to watch helplessly as the ten year relationship he built with the young girl deteriorates. Ultimately, only in the end is the viewer able to see that the old man's love for the young girl was deeper than any type of weird pedophilia urge. Resulting in a tragically beautiful ending that straddles the line between being haunting and a bit silly (Some viewers will find the ending to be a silly, but once you wrap your brain around it, it makes perfect sense).<br /><br />Bottom Line- Fans of Kim Ki-Duk will not be disappointed but neither should the uninitiated. The Bow is a great film to show someone if you want to introduce them to Asian films, as the story is easy to follow and is not shocking and stomach turning like some Asian cinema films are.