Oki's Movie

Dir: Hong Sang-soo

2010

**

I didn’t much care for Éric Rohmer’s films until years after they were released and I wonder whether I will feel the same way about Hong Sang-soo’s films a few years from now. Never say never, but I do doubt it. I do find his films somewhat self-indulgent and I struggle to find anything that holds my interest. I liked his follow up film The Day He Arrives but more for the aesthetics than the story. I find his films quite claustrophobic and Oki’s Movie is rather dull visually. The structure of the film is divided into four clumsy chapters. The film begins with ‘A Day for Incantation’ On his way to a screening of one of his films, struggling short film director Nam Jin-gu (Lee Sun-kyun) is nagged by his wife Jang Su-yang (Seo Yeong-hwa) about his drinking, and he wonders if she is having an affair with a guy called Yeong-su. Nam's onetime professor at film school, Song (Moon Sung-keun), tells him that film-making as an art is now dead. At a dinner with film-school staff, Nam gets drunk and has an argument with Song, about whom he's heard a disquieting rumor. Afterwards, at the Q&A for his film, Nam is asked by a member of the audience (Lee Chae-eun) whether it's true he was dating the actress at the time and is therefore responsible for ruining her life. Nam says he has quit directing. The second chapter, King of Kisses, is set some years earlier but this isn’t initially obvious. Nam sees fellow student Jung Ok-heui (the Oki of the title, played by Jung Yu-mi) at film school and tries to go out with her, claiming he's never dated a woman before. When they smooch in a greenhouse, she says he's a good kisser. She's still getting over a relationship with an older man but finally gives in to Nam's persistence, and they sleep together and begin dating. After the Snowstorm is set following a heavy bout of snow, only Nam and Jung turn up one day for Prof. Song's class, and the three end up talking about relationships. Song at this point has already decided to quit teaching. The final chapter is Oki's Movie, the title of the film. Jung narrates her own short movie based on her relationships with two guys, an "older man" and a "younger man", with whom she separately went walking with one winter on Mt. Acha, south of Seoul. It basically highlights the differences between the older and young man, the overall film suggesting how you get from one to the other. The switching between perspectives and timelines doesn’t work especially well and the acting is either very natural or painfully amateur. Supposedly Hong’s movies are received by Korean audiences with gales of laughter, so I think maybe something is lost in translation. I didn’t misunderstand the story but I do feel that much of the tone and dialogue was probably lost on me. The repeated playing of Land of Hope and Glory was a joke that went on too long and was never that funny in the first place. I don’t think the characters came across in the way they were supposed to, or rather, they didn’t have the effect I think they should have. I understand Hong’s films are subtle in places, but I think many of the lines and performances were subtle to the point of dull. I think Oki was probably the more interesting character, Hong clearly thinks so too, but Jung Yu-mi was given very little to work with. Oki admits in the film that she isn’t a god person, which is ignored. She also bursts out with "What can you do for me?" during a meal with Jingu, and then covers up when she realises she has said it aloud. Subtle, but too subtle, as she just can’t compete with Professor Song and Jingu, who are both alter-egos of Hong. I can’t fault a director for putting themselves in their own films but I think Hong crosses the mark to the point that the only people who are ever going to be interested are mega-fans and family members and the likelihood of me becoming either is pretty unlikely. It isn’t a bad film at all, I just found nothing in it for me. It also features the worst drunken performance I've ever seen. Surely if you can't act drunk, get drunk? It is what they did in all the films that Hong is clearly a fan of.

The Day He Arrives

Dir: Hong Sang-soo

2011

**

Director Hong Sang-soo is clearly influenced by European new wave in his 2011 film The Day He Arrives but I’m not sure it works or translates particularly well. Filmed in black and white, the film follows Seong-jun, a director who has stopped making films with only four pictures under his belt. We get the impression that he’s just run out of ideas, rather than given up on film for any other reason. He has arrived in Seoul to meet a close friend who lives in Bukchon, towards the cold north of the city. When the friend does not answer his calls, Seong-jun wanders around town and runs into an actress he used to know. The two talk for a while but soon part after the conversation becomes strained. He makes his way down to Insa-dong, finds a little bar and drinks by himself. Some film students at another table ask him to join them and they soon recognise him, although they admit that they haven’t seen any of his films and actually seem to know very little about him as a film maker. They soon get drunk together and the student’s questions become a little blunt. Seong-jun tells them of a great place he wants to take them but half-way there he forgets what he’s doing and runs from them, feeling that they are copying his every move. He soon recognises where he is and heads for his ex-girlfriend's house where he drunkenly declares his love for her again. It soon becomes unclear if it is the same day, the next day or some other day, as Seong-jun leaves the flat in daytime (when he entered at night) and continues to wander around Bukchon. He runs into the actress again. They talk and soon part once the conversation reaches a natural and somewhat awkward end. He eventually meets his friend and they head to a bar called Novel with a female professor his friend knows. The owner of the bar has a striking resemblance to Seong-jun's ex-girlfriend so he decides to play the piano for her. Again unclear if it is the next day or some other day, Seong-jun goes to the Jeongdok Public Library with his friend and mentions that it was the first place he chased after a woman. Later, they have drinks with a former actor who had been doing business in Vietnam. Seong-jun is excited to meet the actor as he was the star of his first film, however, the actor is bitter towards him, as it transpires that he was fired after just two weeks, Seong-jun didn’t have the guts to fire him himself and the actor couldn’t get work again for another year. It seems Seong-jun has forgotten many things and many people. The same female professor joins them and the four go to the same bar. Seong-jun gets drunk and ends up kissing the owner of the pub. Seong-jun may have spent a few days in Seoul with his friend, or it may still be his first day there. He may have learned something from the encounter with his ex-girlfriend, or may have to meet the woman who resembles her again, for the first time. As life presents itself in no more than today’s worth of time, Seong-jun also has no other choice than to face his "today". I believe Hong Sang-soo was trying to emulate directors such as Eric Rohmer, as well as people like Jim Jarmusch. The idea is very new wave but not particularly remarkable. The fact that our protagonist is a film director makes me think this is a personal film for Hong Sang-soo who might be questioning his creativity. I like a film that lets its audience interpret its meaning but I never felt that compelled to do so, in fact, I found it rather dull. The black and white served no purpose and wasn’t rich enough to impress visually. I don’t know whether it was a poor translation issue but the dialogue was far too disjointed to be interesting and there were times where I felt it was trying to be too ‘Coffee & Cigarettes’ for it’s own good. Some scenes where clearly meant to sound intellectual and interesting but I found that most of them fell flat and the whole thing felt like an amateur imitation of other, better films/directors. I understand it’s intentions, I think, but it just didn’t grab my attention, not even for a moment.