In a heavily line-broken text released about the film, Kim writes that "Through Arirang I understand human beings, thank the nature, and accept my life as it is now.

[3] After attending the festival screening in Cannes, Variety's Leslie Felperin wrote: "Further evidence, as if it were needed, that digital is both the liberation of low-budget filmmaking and the enabler of self-indulgence".

[4] In Screen Daily, Dan Fainaru called it "the ultimate 'film d'auteur'", and wrote: "Doing it justice in a short review is almost impossible, not because Kim Ki-duk is providing revolutionary insights into his line of work, but because he raises numerous issues that are too often ignored as irrelevant or pedantic by professionals who should know better.

"[5] Peter Bradshaw wrote: "It is the most extravagantly self-indulgent piece of pure loopiness imaginable – but gripping as well.

To feel HAN (Arirang by Kim Ki-duk) // Kino, No.3, Sofia:p. 49-47, ISSN 0861-4393 [Да чувстваш ХАН („Ариран" на Ким Ки-док).