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Hyeon-a Seong, Seong Hyeon-ah, Ji-Yeon Park, Jung-woo Ha, Yeong-hwa Seo

In an effort to save a failing relationship, a woman undergoes extreme plastic surgery.

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79% liked it

5,213 ratings

Critics

81% liked it

31 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 37 min.

Directed by: Ki-duk Kim

Release Date: July 13, 2007

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DVD Release Date: November 6, 2007

Stats: 380 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (380)

  • itsjustme2004
    March 7, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    Very strange, but good movie...in fact, I'm sure someone in Hollywood is planning to "re-do" this flick as we speak (since ripping off foreign cinema is now the hottest Hollywood trend). You will never want to own a cafe where lovers meet after this film. It seems the best place ... read morefor hysterical scenes. Anyway, we see what twisted, or just obsessive, love can do to a relationship. There is a bit of irony, when the new Seh-hee becomes jealous of the new love in her boyfriend's life. OH WAIT! It's her, no wait, is she jealous of herself?
  • kiriyamakazou
    February 27, 2011
    kiriyamakazou
    I've lived in South Korea for over 2 years now, and this film holds a lot more weight to it. The South Korean obsession with plastic surgery is unsettling and bizarre. Kim Ki-Duk uses his unique symbolism and poetic visuals to show a world of absurdity and negligence. The film is... read more about love, obsession and insecurity. The opening scenes show a woman so unreasonable and psychologically dangerous, that she will infuriate most watching. She believes her boyfriend will become bored of her, and so changes her face. Suddenly she vanishes. A number of women crop up and could be her. It's a strange romantic mystery, and one that cannot be taken literally. Kim Ki-Duk isn't trying to confuse his audience, he is encouraging them to think. This film had more dialogue than I'm used to from him, but it serves the story well. As Ji-Woo attempts to find his love, who may be one of the women around him. Kim Ki-Duk does a fascinating job of exploring how much appearance affects our relationships.
  • blacksheepboy
    March 18, 2010
    blacksheepboy
    This wonderful film is one of Kim Ki-Duk's most powerful and saddest works on how time affects our lives and relationships, it is an aching story about love trying to survive amid obsessions, insecurities and our incapacity to cope with our own pettiness in face of the unstoppabl... read moree action of time.
  • romy861
    January 30, 2010
    romy861
    Slightly confusing. Don't think I would want to watch it again, but interesting idea about plastic surgery and it's implications on unhappy people.
  • arashxak
    February 13, 2009
    arashxak
    I know Shi gan deals with insecurity & lack of identity &... but I think the main point is accepting the passage of time & the fact that nothing lasts forever, The best I've seen by Kim Ki-duk along with 3-Iron
  • skactopus
    August 16, 2008
    skactopus
    Ki-duk Kim creates a movie that revolves around the issue of plastic surgery, which at this time, is a growing situation in Korea. Yes, one of the messages that comes from this film is that "plastic surgery is bad," but there is more to it than this.

    The film is know as a dram

    ... read morea romance. Don't be fooled, because this doesn't necessarily feel like a romance. If you look at it in Hollywood terms that is. It is still a slow movie that deals with relationships though. Plastic surgery plays a big part in this film, but this isn't a gory movie by any means. The beginning offers footage of a surgery, which may make you lose your lunch, but that is pretty much it. The story itself is not really complex, but it is deep. You will need to pay attention to get the most out of this.

    Knowing the fact that this is about plastic surgery gives away the ending of the film, but that doesn't make the movie any less watchable. You are curious to see how the main character Ji-Woo will react when he discovers what has taken place. Remember, this is not a typical Hollywood romance movie. While there is nothing really special about the first hour, besides the camerawork, the last 30 minutes picks up and becomes quite entertaining. The movie sort of flips the story on the two main characters, which ends up giving you an ending that will have you thinking. I'll just leave it at that.

    The acting is quite good, although a little bland at times, but that is nothing new to Asian dramas. The star of the movie is Seong Hyeon-a, who plays See-Hee after the surgery.

    For a drama, which I am not a huge fan of, the story is good enough to keep even me into it. If you can get through the first half of the film you will be in for a treat.
  • ceWEBrity
    July 15, 2008
    ceWEBrity
    Beauty and brutality? Queue up another Kim Ki-Duk film! When you consider how naturally the juxtaposition comes with a subject like plastic surgery, it's a surprise that he didn't go after it earlier. Anyway, the man is a master-class visual director and comes up with some truly ... read moreincredible tales. They fall just out of the realm of human plausibility, acting more as parables, and that's what makes his films so unique.

    There were parts of 3-Iron that irked me because they seemed completely out of the grasp of human reason - I didn't really understand why the characters were acting like they did. That was dumb viewing on my part...of course the characters are going to act unusual. They're inexplicably mute. In all of his films, Ki-Duk hangs reality to make a point or strengthen a theme. Even his comparatively austere Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring exhibits this. Bold choices like these can damage or enhance a film; the choices that he makes in Time are almost always for the stronger. The constant abuse of plastic surgery by the two main characters is a heartbreaking metaphor for relationships. Even though they have failed, time and again, to make their love work, they keep remodeling themselves in order to give it another try. Never mind the fact that it's the same person behind the new face - it's all they seem to know.

    Whether you choose to view this as a relationship metaphor or a plastic surgery polemic - or both - is totally up to you. One of the strong points of Time is that it makes a very compelling point about a real-life practice without seeming preachy or distracting. Plastic surgery has become huge in Korea, to the point where it has positively effected their economy. Girls as young as 14 are getting eyelid lifts. The film doesn't trouble you with any of this though, instead making a strong insinuation through graphic montages that the practice is commonplace and completely brutal.

    Time has some third-act problems, throwing in too many emotional climaxes and not really knowing where to end. There are at least three points in the last twenty minutes where the movie could have stopped and been just as strong, if not stronger, for it. Ki-Duk's films are generally littered with spots of empty air; this is actually one of his tighter efforts, at least compared to the suffocating Spring. Still, I feel like there were times when the movie just wasn't saying much. All is forgiven, though, when you consider how loud the rest of the film is.
  • lesleyanorton
    April 23, 2010
    lesleyanorton
    Suspenseful film about the insecurities of love, or the destructiveness of insecurities or the obsessiveness of lovers. A woman fears her boyfriend will get tired of her, so she changes her appearance with plastic surgery - but it doesn't work out as she hopes, or quite as you'd ... read moreexpect either. If it puts a few people off going under the knife then its done a good job.
  • alanjayh
    December 19, 2009
    alanjayh
    interesting but flawed movie. If you suspend belief and view it more as a metaphor it seems to work better. Regardless, its poetic in nature but tends to drag toward the end. It does contain the creepiest scene I ever viewed in a movie however..you will know it when you see it!
  • FanGirl
    January 21, 2008
    FanGirl
    A truel bizzar and wonderfully twisted cautionary tale about plastic surgery.

View All Shi gan (Time) Reviews

Critic Reviews

Ty Burr
August 3, 2007
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

This is powerful stuff, so why does the movie feel less convincing the longer it goes on? There are two ways to tell this story -- coolly distanced or melodramatically hot -- but [director] Kim combin... Full Review

Andrew Sarris
July 25, 2007
Andrew Sarris, New York Observer

Time is well worth your time as a moviegoer. Full Review

Lisa Schwarzbaum
July 18, 2007
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

As tautly 'pretty' and inexpressive as the results for those who compulsively seek cosmetic perfection. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
July 13, 2007
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

Viewers in Gotham will be perplexed, frightened, disgusted -- and, mostly, entertained. Full Review

Bill Stamets
July 13, 2007
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

An unnerving riff on South Korean women fixated on the idea of ul-jjang ('best face'). Full Review

Matt Zoller Seitz
July 13, 2007
Matt Zoller Seitz, New York Times

Throughout Time, Kim Ki-duk flips between soapy melodrama and dry, self-aware comedy. The effect is thrilling and disorienting, like walking on a trampoline.

John Anderson
July 12, 2007
John Anderson, Newsday

In addition to statements about urban anonymity and the cult of beauty, writer-director Kim is also making a mordant statement about love, the kind you can get lost in while losing yourself. Full Review

Michael Phillips
July 12, 2007
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

With a wry tone all his own (the writer-director calls his thesis 'absurd'), South Korea's Kim Ki-duk asks in his calmly assured spellbinder a simple question: How far can we go to transform who we th... Full Review

James Berardinelli
July 12, 2007
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Haunting and disturbing, Time is the kind of motion picture that gets under your skin and doesn't let go. It lingers long after the final credits have rolled and, for those who see it with friends, it... Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir
July 11, 2007
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

Whatever else it is, it's a clean, economical and handsome film, terrifically acted, with a heart full of treachery and mystery. Full Review

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