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Man, talk about yet another life taken by COVID-19 that adds to the count of people who should have never passed yet. Korean director Kim Ki Duk has passed away at the age of 59 in a hospital in Latvia. He was in the country since late November to buy a beach home and spend more time there. He apparently contracted COVID-19 relatively early on from his arrival in Latvia and had told friends he recovered, but days later his symptoms worsened and he passed away today. Kim Ki Duk was one of Korea’s most famous and internationally well known directors behind the award winning films, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…..and Spring, 3-Iron, Rough Cut, Pieta, Mobius, and many over. He lost his luster in 2017 as one of the men caught up in the spate of Me Too allegations, after an actress accused him of assault on the film set, forcing her to do a sex scene she did not agree with. He paid a fine on that though charges for other sexual assault allegations from three other women were dismissed for lack of evidence. He’s gone now and his artistic legacy will remain through his films.
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His older movies are very, very good….but the latest not so much. Regardless, RIP Kim Ki Duk.
I’ve always suspected ‘art films’ were just another excuse to exploit women and for the director to be a pervert in the name of ‘art’ or ‘independent cinema.
Kim’s death was indirectly confirmed by the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, which said that a “South Korean male in his died while being treated for COVID-19 at a hospital in Latvia during the early hours of Dec. 11 local time.” It declined to identify the director due to privacy concerns. Kim won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival with his 2012 film “Pieta,” a brutal mother-and-son tale of revenge and redemption. He also won prizes for best director at festivals in Venice and Berlin, and secured another award at the 2011 Cannes festival for his movie “Arirang.”