Moeibus (2013)

Moebius is one of the most ludicrous films I’ve seen in quite a while. It features intentional overdoses of melodrama, violence, stupidity, incest, emasculation (both literal and metaphorical), rape, violation, masturbation and visual metaphors I won’t bother decoding; all while keeping the flick free of dialogue. Kim Ki Duk goes all-out here both enjoying and abusing his rank as a well-regarded auteur as he looks to score cringes from his viewers, both the Kim Ki Duk newbies that don’t expect the worst and the fan followers that anticipate it. And while it seems that he did succeed in his intentions (a viewer vomited on his way out at its Venice premiere) the film didn’t really irk me.

I liked the film-making though, which is what kept me watching; but never hanging, amused or annoyed enough to even contemplate turning it off. Fifteen minutes in, I knew that Moebius wasn’t a thing to take seriously. Yet it retained my attention, undeservedly so, and made me go the distance with it. That Kim Ki Duk chose to tone down the dialogue to zero only raises the temptation to read between the lines. Except this time, I’ll have to pass. Not only is Moebius hard to take seriously, laughing with it doesn’t come easy. And with brilliant actors on board inspiring much dramatic weight into this farce, you can’t even laugh at the film. Perhaps, Moebius is one film to date that could’ve actually benefited from poor acting. So, even as a campy cringe comedy, Moebius falls short. But then again, maybe it doesn’t. I just don’t get what Kim Ki Duk intends to accomplish here. In all probability he instructed his actors to take their roles seriously just so that he could laugh at them off screen.

Rating- 5/10.