Identity and Otherness in the Films of Kim Kiduk

In a central scene in 3-Iron, the female protagonist dissects her own photo and reconstitutes it in a cubistic fashion. While in this film the act of reframing seems to symbolize the establishment of a new identity, in other films by Kim Kiduk, various subject positions can be defined neither as re-compositions of disparate identities nor as splits of two polar opposites. Often we are confronted with situations in which the notion of the authentic subject has possibly been overcome. In the present article, I attempt to understand these patterns evolving in Kim Kiduk’s films, within the Korean cultural context determined by the country’s division, as well as occupations by foreign powers.