Human, Space, Time and Human

A group of very different people set sail on an old warship. The passengers include a senator with his son, a newly-wed couple, a mysterious old man, a group of sex workers and a gang of violent criminals. Korean director Kim Ki-duk doesn’t waste any time before mercilessly letting his characters loose on each other in this confined setting. At first the aggressive behaviour of the thugs and their leader is directed at the first class passengers, but then more and more indiscriminately against the rest of those on board. Rape is followed by murder and it’s not long before the first of numerous and increasingly brutal mutinies takes place. And then, when a view of the ocean reveals a sea of clouds instead of water, it looks as though the ship’s social microcosm has finally come apart. All the protagonists in this film remain nameless and without a biography, the only thing that counts is the breathless here and now, which becomes a parable about the beast that is humankind. In a dramatic interpersonal downward spiral, the cruel fight for food and survival ultimately veers into the fantastical.