Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
s k
A very non-linear Korean film, to say the least. In some ways it's almost David Lynch-like in its over the top obtuseness. There are layers and layers, revealed one by one, which is pretty much how this film moves along. There's no continuous story line; it's more like a dream, where you recall some bits and pieces, one at a time, while other parts remain obscure. That's what watching Texture Of Skin is like.About the only concrete thing we know for sure is that the main character is a photographer. Every night he goes up on a rooftop with his camera and a powerful telephoto lens to get photos of a man and a woman in a building across the way. His journalist partner (possibly his ex-brother in law?) is obnoxious, and there appears to be some indication that his ex-wife or ex-g/f cheated with this guy. Maybe. (Nothing is really concrete; you have to piece together all the different scenes the best way you can all by yourself.) Additionally, the main character has some rather stilted sexual encounters (9, to be specific, although no reason is given for that specific number; it's merely a condition set by the woman with whom he's having the sexual encounters) with either an ex-wife or an ex-girlfriend. (Those encounters, BTW, are about as sensual as visiting a prostitute.) The main character also drinks quite a lot, as does his journalist partner, to the point of getting fall down drunk.There are also two of the most memorable kissing scenes that I've ever seen in one movie.(Memorable for how horrible they are. One is about as appealing as watching something eating ribs with his/her mouth open.)Oh yeah...and then there's the ghost in the apartment where the main character decides to live. It appears as if she's been molested by her father, and that's what causes her untimely death, because as she's running away from him she gets hit by a car and dies. That's how the film opens, with that scene. (But it doesn't indicate why she's running, or from whom.)Oh yeah...and then there's the part about the main character's invalid mother.Oh yeah...and then there's the part about the main character going to the dentist.Oh yeah...and then there's the part about the female neighbor and her boyfriend. (And a bicycle that belonged to the dead ghost girl.)Oh yeah...and there's the scenes in which the dead ghost girl makes clothes and sells them on the street with her boyfriend.You get the picture? This is a very odd movie. Interesting. And worth watching, IMO. But very very odd.