What undermines Moebius is how Kim has let high concepts and philosophical subtexts run amok without anchoring them to a substantial narrative
Moebius(뫼비우스)
✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Korea · 2013
1h 29m
Director Kim Ki-duk
Starring Cho Jae-hyun, Lee Na-ra, Kim Jae-hong, Kim Min-seok
Genre Drama
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In this disturbing narrative conveyed entirely without dialogue, a woman is driven mad by her husband and takes a knife to their son. Infidelity, incest, and insanity abound in this graphic tale depicting the imminent downfall of a twisted family — with extreme and bizarre visuals to match.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico
The three entirely committed, fearless performers put through the physical and emotional motions by Kim carry a film that is the definition of “not for everyone” but Moebius works on its terms. Its twisted, Oedipal, sadomasochistic, castrated terms.
Even Oedipus would be left scratching his head by this bonkers but drily funny tale of one family's forlorn search for normality.
It's impossible to look away -- not only because the sense of anticipation is so vivid, but because there's no other way to follow the bizarre plot than keep with it.
The best word to describe it is strange, though it could have been halfway decent (yes, all the way up to halfway decent) if the third act hadn’t succumbed to the crescendo of craziness that had been building for the first hour.
A gloriously off-the-charts study in perversity.
The Playlist by Oliver Lyttelton
A sly dark comedy that doubles as a very impressive display of wordless storytelling.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
Kim rattles you with this family’s bizarre and pitiful plight, and only then, from a place of agonised discomfort, does the laughter follow, in great whoops and roars.
Village Voice by Sherilyn Connelly
Except for the presence of the Internet, the picture feels like a retelling of an ages-old fable. In fact, Moebius is almost weird enough to be a creation myth, and that's no small accomplishment.
Time Out London by Tom Huddleston
Extreme cinema aficionados will doubtless get major kicks from Moebius. For others, the cumulative shocks are likely to induce weariness and boredom.
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