Japan The Bow is a Japan–South Korea co-production — one of only a handful of such cross-border film titles indexed here.
Synopsis
활
“A girl who thought the sea was the whole world, became the whole world to an old man.”
On a fishing boat at sea, a 60-year old man has been raising a girl since she was a child. It is agreed that they will get married on her 17th birthday. They live a quiet and secluded life, renting the boat to day fishermen and practicing strange divination rites. Their life changes when a teenage student comes aboard.
Japan × South Korea Co-Production
Other Japan×South Korea titles
Other Titles From Kim Ki Duk Film
The 2004–2006 Japan Window
The Bow holds position #169 of 347 Japan films in the 2004–2006 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 2000s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in Japan, 1020 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when The Bow premiered alongside 116 others.
Budget & Box Office Efficiency
At a 1h 30m runtime, production spent $11K per minute on screen and earned $23K per minute back.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 116 other Japan films in 2005.
The 1697th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
165 audience reviews — more than 83% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (83th percentile) outruns trending popularity (61th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,316 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (49th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #1,029 of 1,933 (top 53%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| All Production Countries | Japan, South Korea |
| Original Language | Korean |
| Production Companies | Kim Ki Duk Film, Happinet Pictures, Cineclick Asia |
| Runtime | 1h 30m |
| Release Date | May 12, 2005 |
| IMDb | tt0456470 |