Muddled Mess On Teenage Sex
"Samaria" tries to be a tightly woven drama about truth and consequences of youth dabbling in the business of behaving as adults, but instead the film comes off as little more than a jarring mess of mixed messages.
Trying to save money for a trip to Europe, two young lesbians, Jae-yeong and Yeo-jin, concoct a grand scheme: Jae-yeong begins the world's oldest profession, sleeping with much older men for cash while Yeo-jin stands guard outside watching for police. However, when Jae-young jumps from a hotel window to avoid being caught by the police, she dies from her wounds, and Yeo-jin, feeling responsible, decides to take over the bedroom duties and give these men their money back. The situation quickly goes from bad to worse when her father -- a police detective -- uncovers what she's doing and then starts extracting his own revenge on the men.
The film is uneven, and it never gives a clear motivation for Yeo-jin's desire to put things right in her little corner of the world. Even worse, the film never explains her father's choice to comletely abandon her in the story's final act after he's committed so many crimes.
The film does approach the taboo subject of adults sleeping with children (teenage girls). While the story gave the filmmaker ample opportunity to make further comments about this real-world problem that fuels a significant portion of the global sex trade (older men choosing to sleep with younger and younger women), this topic seems to be conveniently sidestepped in favor of producing a dirty 'Afterschool Special' sans nudity. The adult themes, instead, focus on the father's actions, and, as a result, the film never entirely recovers from the level of confusion it generates.
While I'd argue that the film deserves a low rating for quality, "Samaria" is probably the kind of film that would mean more to persons who've dealt with this topic -- inappropriate sexual indiscretion -- far more personally. Also, the film could be viewed as a conversation piece about the nature of youth and the teen's interest in growing up (thru sex) much faster than society intends. Outside of those facts, I couldn't recommend it.