Nam Chul-woo is a poor fisherman living a simple but happy life with his wife and daughter on the north side of a river that divide Korea. Every day he goes fishing on the river, where the checkpoint soldiers know him well and trust him not to cross the invisible border in the water. One day his fishing net gets caught in the boat engine, and Nam cannot stop himself from drifting into the south.
The Net is a fantastic film about a man who's caught in the limbo between South and North Korea, and must go through bureaucratic hell and investigations to determine whether he's a spy or not. Nam is a desperate character and piece by piece is revealed of him, the same with the enemies and friends he makes in the South Korean police force. None are one dimensional characters.
The Net was directed by Kim Ki-duk, and it is with a saddened heart I write that he recently passed away from complications brought on by the ongoing pandemic. Kim was always one of my most reliable directors, making different and way more thought provoking movies than what's usually out there. Pictures such as 3-Iron, The Isle and my personal favorite Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring ranks among some of the best films I've seen and they're described as unforgettable in every sense of the word and not just as shallow reaction bait. No doubt a tragic loss but we're lucky to be left with his surviving art.
Genre: Drama
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