Time

Director: Kim Ki-Duk
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 3.5

A troubled relationship takes a bizarre turn when the hostile, deeply unhappy female decides to undergo cosmetic surgery to change her appearance (although she looks fine, she claims it's because she's 'tired' of the 'old' one). Like Kim's 3-Iron, it's a challenging look at the modern relationship, touching on (among many things) the inner-workings of said relationship, how one member of the relationship may become unhappy and want to change it, and how that change may bring about other problems. On a much broader level, it can also be about self-perception (or self-hate), and the desire to alter the most important outward feature we have - in this case, the face itself - and 'start a-fresh.' Kim's style is clean and crisp, and his attempt such a large topic as the nature of human identity and the dynamics of couple-hood (as he did in 3-Iron) is impressive - it isn't until the ending (with its one-twist-too-many) that he slips up even the slightest.