First, the good: the film itself.

Samaritan Girl tells the story of Yeo-jin and Jae-young, in most ways a typical pair of teenaged girls. They are inseparable best friends with a bond that goes rather beyond the platonic. Like many high school friends the pair have a shared, secret dream - in this case a planned trip to Europe - but where they differ is in how they set out to reach their goal. Yeo-jin and Jae-young, despite being all of fourteen, have turned to prostitution.

Yeo-jin works as the madam, booking appointments, handling the money and keeping watch for police raids. She is a reluctant participant in the plan, feeling guilty for putting her friend at risk and deeply resentful of the men who use her friend. Jae-young does the - ahem - hands-on work and beyond simply enjoying the sex she sees what she is doing as something akin to a religious vocation - bringing something positive to the world - as she quotes the legend of a holy prostitute who converted all of her clients to Buddhism.

This being a Kim Ki Duk film things, of course, go horribly wrong. Jae-young falls to her death trying to escape a police raid and a guilt stricken Yeo-jin feels compelled to pursue a peculiar penance. Yeo-jin attempts to set things right by living out Jae-young's misdeeds in reverse: she begins to make her way through their book of clients, sleeping with all of the men and returning their money. Things take a turn even more for the worse when Yeo-jin's father - a police officer - spots her with a client by chance and begins to hunt her johns down, taking bloody vengeance on them.

Believe it or not this is actually an odd fit for Tartan's Asia Extreme label. Kim Ki Duk belongs far more in the art house than the grind house and although he certainly doesn't shy away from the extreme elements this film - like all of his best work - is FAR more concerned with what happens afterwards. The extreme elements are simply a door Kim must go through to address his true subject: how do you recover after experiencing some grave trauma, after committing some horrific sin? The themes here are virtually identical to the ground he worked with Spring, Summer and with similar results. This is not a film about underage prostitution and vigilante justice, it is a film about a young girl trying desperately to come to grips with the fact that she contributed in no small way to her friend’s death and about a father completely shattered by his child’s complete and total loss of innocence. If you come looking to be titillated by the extreme elements you will be disappointed as those are largely peripheral, but come looking for a statement on human nature and you'll find a lot to love.

So where's the negative? In short the transfer is badly substandard. Kim Ki Duk shoots gorgeous film but you wouldn't really know it from looking at this. The picture is soft and often indistinct, there are frequent notably jagged edges and there is a prominent vertical band of bad brightness / contrast running through much of the final act. Samaritan Girl is a solid film that deserves an international audience but I can't in good conscience recommend that anyone buy this badly flawed edition. Give it a rental then track down the vastly superior Korean edition.