# The Bow (활)
**The Bow** (활, *Hwal*) is a 2005 South Korean drama film written, directed, and edited by [Kim Ki-duk](https://www.edgepedia.org/kim-ki-duk), about a 60-year-old man who has raised a 16-year-old girl on a fishing boat anchored at sea and plans to marry her on her 17th birthday[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102). It was Kim's twelfth feature and opened the Un Certain Regard section of the 2005 Cannes Film Festival[2](https://www.etnews.com/200505210023) • [3](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=10054&pyear=2005).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | 활 (*Hwal*), English title The Bow[4](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=The_Bow) |
| Director / writer / editor | Kim Ki-duk[5](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2005/sections_and_films/festivals_top/7/530157/in) |
| Release | May 12, 2005, South Korea; drama, Korean language[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102) |
| Runtime | 88 minutes per the Korean Film Council database; 90 minutes per Cannes, San Sebastian, and Busan festival records[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102) • [6](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/hwal/) |
| Cast | Jeon Sung-hwan (the old man), Han Yeo-reum (the girl), Seo Ji-seok (the student), Jeon Guk-hwan[5](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2005/sections_and_films/festivals_top/7/530157/in) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Jang Seung-baek; music Kang Eun-il[5](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2005/sections_and_films/festivals_top/7/530157/in) |
| Production | Kim Ki-duk Film; co-production South Korea and Japan[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102) • [7](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film876006.html) |
| Cannes 2005 | Opening feature of Un Certain Regard[3](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=10054&pyear=2005) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
A man in his sixties lives with a girl he took in when she was about six years old on an old fishing boat permanently anchored off Korea's coast[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102) • [8](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-bow/2000340856/). For ten years the two have lived alone on the water; the man crosses days off a calendar as he counts down to her 17th birthday, when he intends to marry her[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102). He earns a living ferrying day fishermen out to the boat, and he uses his bow to protect the girl from men who harass her[3](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=10054&pyear=2005).
The bow has three uses in the film. It is a weapon for firing warning shots, a musical instrument the old man plays at the bow of the ship, and a fortune-telling device: the girl sits on a swing hung from the railing while the man shoots three arrows at a Buddhist painting on the hull behind her, and she reads the divination from where they land[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/17/dvdreviews.worldcinema) • [2](https://www.etnews.com/200505210023).
The quiet arrangement is broken when a college student comes aboard to fish and the girl becomes attracted to him, distancing herself from the old man and arousing his jealousy[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102). When the student learns the girl was brought to the boat as a child and does not know the world, he tries to take her back to land and to her parents[8](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-bow/2000340856/).
## Style and place in Kim Ki-duk's work
Kim Ki-duk, born in 1960, debuted with *Crocodile* (1996) and in 2004 won Best Director prizes at Berlin for *Samaritan Girl* and at Venice for *3-Iron*[3](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=10054&pyear=2005). Critics commonly divide his work into "island" films set in isolated spaces and "urban" films; *The Bow* belongs to the former group, alongside *The Isle* and *Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring*[10](https://www.screendaily.com/the-bow-hwal/4023059.article).
The Busan festival's program note calls *The Bow* one of Kim's most abstract films, with the ship as the only set, a place where religious symbols, scars from violence, oppressed desire, and longing for art coexist[3](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=10054&pyear=2005). The film has almost no dialogue; the San Sebastian festival catalog described it as an "intoxicating visual poem" carried by the soundtrack and the young lead actress's face[5](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2005/sections_and_films/festivals_top/7/530157/in). The Guardian noted that the wordless central relationship continues the approach of the preceding *3-Iron*[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/17/dvdreviews.worldcinema). The soundtrack uses orchestrated versions of traditional Korean fiddle music by Kang Eun-il[10](https://www.screendaily.com/the-bow-hwal/4023059.article).
## Production and release
Kim announced in March 2005 that he would decline domestic investment for the time being. The production budget was about 1 billion won, of which roughly 60 percent came from Hapinet; by that date the film had already sold for about $700,000 at the Berlin Film Market, recovering much of its cost before release[11](https://news.nate.com/view/20050308n99208?mid=n0000). It was a South Korean-Japanese co-production[7](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film876006.html).
In South Korea the film opened on May 12, 2005, on a single screen without a press screening, drawing 1,382 admissions and $6,924 in total gross[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102) • [12](https://www.starnewskorea.com/movie/2005/12/15/2005121513233307294). Abroad it circulated widely on the festival circuit: after Cannes, it played San Sebastian (Zabaltegi), [Karlovy Vary](https://www.edgepedia.org/karlovy-vary) (Horizons), Montreal, Stockholm, and Leeds in 2005, and continued through [Mar del Plata](https://www.edgepedia.org/mar-del-plata), Fantas Porto, BAFICI, and many others in 2006 and later[1](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102). At the Oporto festival's [Orient Express](https://www.edgepedia.org/orient-express) section it won a Special Jury Award in 2006[8](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-bow/2000340856/).
## Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 86 percent Tomatometer from 7 critics and a 78 percent audience score[13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hwal_2005). Derek Elley of *Variety* called it "an elegiac portrait of elemental love complicated by the outside world" and praised the two central, dialogue-free performances[13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hwal_2005). Screen's Lee Marshall found the film ravishingly shot but judged that it lacked the depth of Kim's best work, feeling like treading water after *3-Iron*[10](https://www.screendaily.com/the-bow-hwal/4023059.article). The Korean film site koreanfilm.org recorded a critical consensus that the film fell below the level of Kim's other recent work, citing Manohla Dargis's harsh verdict in the New York Times[14](https://koreanfilm.org/kfilm05.html). The subject matter, a marriage plan between a man in his sixties and a 16-year-old girl, drew divided responses; some reviewers found the treatment tasteful and restrained, while others found the premise itself disturbing[15](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-bow-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath) • [13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hwal_2005).
## References
1. [The Bow (2005), Korean Film Council (KOFIC) database](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/filmsView.jsp?movieCd=20050102)
2. [하재봉의 영화사냥: 활, 전자신문 (2005)](https://www.etnews.com/200505210023)
3. [The Bow, Busan International Film Festival archive, 10th (2005) Korean Cinema](https://www.biff.kr/ENG/html/archive/arc_history_view.asp?kind=history&m_idx=10054&pyear=2005)
4. [The Bow, AsianWiki](https://asianwiki.com/index.php?title=The_Bow)
5. [Hwal / The Bow, San Sebastian Film Festival 2005 catalog](https://www.sansebastianfestival.com/2005/sections_and_films/festivals_top/7/530157/in)
6. [HWAL (THE BOW), Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/hwal/)
7. [The Bow, FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film876006.html)
8. [The Bow, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-bow/2000340856/)
9. [The Bow, DVD review, The Guardian (2007)](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/aug/17/dvdreviews.worldcinema)
10. [The Bow (Hwal) review by Lee Marshall, Screen Daily (2005)](https://www.screendaily.com/the-bow-hwal/4023059.article)
11. [김기덕 감독, 국내 투자 고사, 연합뉴스 via Nate (2005)](https://news.nate.com/view/20050308n99208?mid=n0000)
12. [숫자로 본 2005년 영화계, 스타뉴스 (2005)](https://www.starnewskorea.com/movie/2005/12/15/2005121513233307294)
13. [The Bow (2005), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hwal_2005)
14. [Korean Movie Reviews for 2005, koreanfilm.org](https://koreanfilm.org/kfilm05.html)
15. [The Bow review by Keith Dudhnath, Eye for Film (2007)](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-bow-film-review-by-keith-dudhnath)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2005 to 2006*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license