jzappa
A story has a beginning, a middle, and an end: This comes from Aristotle, and it splendidly describes a great many stories from the European narrative tradition, but it doesn't describe all stories. It is very Western to stress the end, on where the story goes, the destination. It means progression or change in time, but when removing yourself to observe the composition of a story, what if interims and languid moments between characters, or one character, equipped it with its expression?There are two basic kinds of good movies. One is a movie where you leave saying, "I don't under, wait, yeah, of course, now I understand! What a masterpiece! Let's go find a party," and by the time you wake up the next day, it is possible you are no longer thinking of it at all. Then, there is a movie that is upsetting or intricate or unusual, and you leave unsure, but you think about it the next day, or off and on for a week, or off and on forever. That is because that kind of film, which for instance aside from this film includes Nil By Mouth, No Country For Old Men, Brick, or any given John Cassavetes movie, is not clean or neat. There is something about it that comes purely from the heart, and so, it goes to the heart.The story orbits droopily roundabouts two old pals, a university art teacher played by Yu Ji- Tae, who was the delightfully unusual villain in Oldboy, and Kim Tae-Boo playing a graduate from an American film school who has recently returned to his home country. As they have dinner in a restaurant, and Hong Sang-soo directs these two actors so that the painful awkwardness between them is realistically implacable, Tae-Boo talks Ji-Tae into fixing up a reunion between them and his old girlfriend, Seong Hyeon-ah. But, unbeknownst to Tae-Boo, Ji-Tae had grown to be drawn into a relationship with her following Tae-Boo's career-driven exodus to the US. Unlike the two men, she has no buried intention to compensate for or hold on to days gone by, not just for the reason that it's upsetting, but also because she is altogether here and now. The three shortly gather for a night of drinking, although ultimately, the film doesn't show any emotional culmination or yet still arrive at an apparent close. But that's your call when you see it.The film was screened alongside another South Korean film, a magnificent one, Oldboy, at Cannes, marking the first time that two films from the country were in the competition simultaneously. Unlike Oldboy, Woman Is the Future of Man did not win any of the awards and reportedly met with an indifferent reception, which to me is strange. I don't find it to be a discouraging element to making the decision to see a movie, because that is a reaction that is highly unusual. It is not a sign that this is a bad film or that it's a profoundly brilliant film, because really it's neither. What it means to me is that it's from the mind of a filmmaker who is either ahead of the pack, or has gone on an entirely different path than the pack from the very beginning.Perhaps it's the feeling of maudlin defeat that filters through this curious experiment in which reminiscence, longing and crude egotism clank versus each other with tenderness. Sang-soo has an unobtrusive, fragile technique and averts from theatrical accompaniments or dignified monologues. In fact the characters are quite ineloquent. There is a number of scenes of ungainly sex, perhaps because of a forlorn lack of communication. Really, whether Sang-soo intended the outcome to be this way, every viewer will have a different reaction. To me, though I was not blown away by the movie, I still had a lot of reaction to it, ultimately that Sang-soo's elegantly broken storytelling reflects that our reminiscences can bring not much solace.
Gigo_Satana
It's been three years since the release of Turning Gate and since then Hong has directed two more films. When I look at the Korean cinema, it's sometimes impossible to compare Hong to other directors, because his films are like one big diary of an experienced intellectual, full of infinite stories to share with the viewers. What makes his films even more special is that Hong likes to stick to a similar flow of storytelling and the overall style each time, even if the stories themselves are different from one another.This particular film deals with a reunion of two male friends who haven't seen each other in quite some time. First twenty minutes seem to be unaware of the film's direction, but that's not a problem at all with Hong's films. After some time of reminiscing, eating and drinking excessively, they decide to meet up with their old female acquaintance who one of the guys has not been in contact with since he moved to the States. He soon discovers that she took his abandonment very badly for the reasons he was very well aware of. Through those years apart the woman obviously underwent significant changes in her behavior, which become apparent when they both spend the night over at her place.Even though the story often touched on some dramatic moments, it was Hong's surprise choice of lightly uplifting classical music that often deflated the sentiment and heaviness of each character and tried to give room to some unintentional humor. The scenery is still all too familiar and pleasantly accommodative to the characters. The delivery from the actors is just as insightful and efficient as the story allows it to be.The length of the film stands at 88 minutes, making it Hong's shortest film to date and unfortunately the ending feels abrupt. Now the reason for that might be because the story and the actions chosen by some of the characters lack overall climax and feel somewhat nonlinear, but that's just how life is sometimes. The director still has an exceptional eye for capturing such situations, even if the finished product has to suffer consequences from an audience that isn't used to his style of storytelling or is expecting a certain closure. I got stranded right in the middle, greatly admiring Hong's roaming through hidden emotions and candid sex scenes, as well as his love for signifying details, but at the same time I felt slightly unmoved and in anticipation for a greater impact with his trademark symbolisms that made his previous films so memorable.
Atavisten
I enjoy these outtakes of real life films very much, if they are done right it feels like you can watch and watch for hours on end without feeling bored, another Korean example of this type of film is 'Nakta dul' which I think is better.The actors are good and fit their respective roles well and its a realistic portrait of these people. That is for the situations they are in as well. The role sex has here makes me a bit embarrassed to be a male, the guilty mood is created by sexual desire and the lenghts they take to fulfill it. "We don't have real culture, people are only thinking of sex" or something along the similar lines was uttered in the café, somehow it sums it up.Its an OK movie that I give a 5 of 10.
J. M. Verville
Sang-soo Hong has done it again: he has made another controversial film that deals with the in-depth investigation of human sexuality, this time focusing solely on it from the perspective of two old friends meeting up again, one a successful college professor and the other a struggling film-maker.From beginning to end, Hong lures you into the film by showing provocative sexual scenes and events, and really laying before us just how chaotic and disturbing sex can be, as well as how fulfilling it is. In between comical exchanges between the main characters, there lies a great deal of tragedy. Like many Korean films, it bended genres.The acting was always as realistic as Hong aimed for in previous films like Power of Kangwon Province, and the story just as equally real -- focusing on very real dialog and very real occurrences. One can feel a close relationship to every character in the movie from start to finish. The mood is very real, and the soundtrack that accompanies it was very appropriate.A uniquely artistic film that encourages the viewer to connect the dots, and a very real 'slice-of-life' film, I would recommend this to anybody who enjoys artistic film in general, or who has an interest in tackling some major issues about sexuality. It was another well-done piece by Hong, and I look forward to seeing more work by him in the future.
