Ji-wol, a Buddist monk, is excommunicated because of an inappropriate affair with a female believer. He rapes and kills another woman and leaves with her ashes for the Philippines where her family lives. However, there he falls in love with her twin sister. A shocking interpretation of karma.
Direction
Lee Sang-woo's unflinching gaze at spiritual rot.
Acting
Won Tae-hee's monk: desire and damnation in one body.
Director
Lee Sang-woo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Korean cinema's 2010s obsession with corrupted religious figures—this predates The New Pope discourse by years.
Lee Sang-woo cast himself as the victim's father, making the director complicit in the karmic web.
KR
