Tag: Hong Sang-soo

Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors

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virginDirector: Hong Sang-soo

Released in 2000.

Similar to the director’s Right Now, Wrong Then, two versions of the story are told, with details changed and/or added in the second version. Neither version throws much light on any of the characters. One man is cheating on his wife; the other is a two-timing bachelor whose initial interest in the female protagonist increases when he discovers that she’s a virgin 🙄 The female MC is the hardest to figure out. She appears merely inexperienced at first, but is subsequently revealed to be somewhat manipulative. Things at home aren’t exactly straightforward either — she seems to have an unconventional (to say the least) relationship with her brother, but her feelings about this are unclear. There are a few borderline rape scenes, but the men are (thankfully) weak pathetic fools who back off before things go too far. Still, it’s not comfortable to watch.

Hill of Freedom

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hillDirector: Hong Sang-soo

Released in 2014.

I watched two Hong Sang-soo films today. Both seem to stress that men can be utter shits and not much to look at, yet still find women to love them. The men in the two films are various kinds of yuck. Sorry, but I can’t find a better word to represent the way the male characters suck, hah. The main character in ‘Hill of Freedom’ might be said to be the best of the rotten bunch, but he too turns out to be a miserable weakling. As for the women, they are mostly a pathetic, desperate lot. The writer/director’s films tend to show people at their worst and I can’t stop watching them. Perhaps the utter awfulness of his characters reassures me that I am not alone in having to endure piece of shit humans, that there are just too many of them and so, impossible to avoid, and that I am not the only piece of shit in this world. We are a universal condition.

The Power of Kangwon Province

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Director: Hong Sang-soo

Released in 1998.

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There’s a poster for this film that has the tagline: ‘Love’s fleeting when most in need’. Whether it’s a translation from the tagline on a Korean poster or it was dreamt up by the distributors of the film’s release in the English-speaking world, it’s pretty stupid and meaningless. The characters in Kangwon Province may need love, but if they only have themselves to blame if love sidesteps their grubby grasp and runs for the hills. A more passive aggressive, cowardly, emotionally-stunted bunch of lost souls has never before been dreamt up! I’m beginning to realise that I’m never going to like the people in Hong Sang-soo’s films, but maybe their lives are just too familiar for me to stop watching.

Right Now, Wrong Then

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Right_Now,_Wrong_Then_(poster)Director: Hong Sang-soo
Released in 2015.

Not sure how I feel about this one. I like the style, the slice-of-life approach; the long, rambling, seemingly pointless conversations; and the awkwardness of the characters, each one blindsided by mundane circumstances. However, the main characters made me impatient and peevish. The female MC is slender and pale, with long silky hair in a messy updo. She has a soft, weak, almost childlike voice. She’s beautiful or is supposed to be. Personally, I find her looks bland, but this is a Korean film and I’m told the Koreans value skinny women with tiny faces and white skin.

This woman, Hee-jeong (Kim Min-hee), used to be a fashion model, but she has quit and is now living in her hometown, with her mother, and dabbling in painting. The male MC (Jung Jae-young) is a famous art house director, in town for a screening of one of his films and a Q&A session. The film comprises two parts in which the same events unfold with slightly different details and outcomes. Predictably, the director, Ham Chun-soo, is smitten by Hee-jeong in both versions. In the first version he’s rather slimy and sleazy; in the second, he’s foolish and sentimental. He’s thinking with his dick either way and I find him slightly despicable when he cries and tells her he’s in love and will never see her again because he’s married with two children. Still, it’s preferable to when he doesn’t mention his wife and is outed by Hee-jeong’s friends at a party. Whatever. He keeps telling Hee-jeong she’s beautiful, as if he’s saying something remarkable. But then again, she seems to fall for it.

Both man and woman are revealed to be entirely, tediously ordinary and this is probably why I am drawn to them. They are like people I know; people I work with; they might be me. Their behaviour makes me cringe, but I can empathise and sympathise. How surprising and gratifying to see real life in a film. How boring and, at the same time, riveting. No matter how annoyed I am by the silly actions of the characters, I can’t tear my eyes away because it’s like eavesdropping or reading personal letters secretly. I guess I like this film even if I dislike the characters in it.

On the Beach at Night Alone

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Beach

Director: Hong Sang-soo

Released in 2017.

I finally got around to watching this Korean film, by Hong Sang-soo, about a young actor trying to recover from her affair with a married director. I love such slice-of-life films, with lots of long conversations between characters, and silent scenes that encourage personal reflection.

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