I’m still reading Dennis Lim’s book about Hong Sang-soo’s film Tale Of Cinema, which is used to discuss the prolific auteur’s body of work. I’ve seen a lot of Sang-soo’s films this year, mainly due to the fact that many of them were added to SBS OnDemand. By seeing more than one of Sang-soo’s productions, you understand the recurring themes, actors and overall approach. The action is mainly characters talking, eating and drinking together. Reading further into Sang-soo’s filmmaking style, the fact that he writes scenes early in the morning on the day of shooting contributes to the understanding of unfolding creation to the narrative. Reducing the filmmaking apparatus to one camera, unbroken master shots with the occasional zoom-in, and simple locations (cafes, offices, bookstores, cinemas), and hence has been able to complete films quickly, often releasing two to three in a year (running times ranging from 90 minutes to an hour).
The Novelist’s Film (2022) made me think of a couple of things, one related to a thematic interest of the director’s and another more broader and outside of his thematic concerns. The main character is an acclaimed, popular novelist Jun-hee (Lee Hye-young, who was great as the lead in Sang-soo’s In Front Of Your Face) who takes a trip to a quieter area outside the city. Often Sang-soo includes meta elements in his movies and this film in particular seems to be a conversation across his characters about the director’s creative thinking. The novelist is a bit stuck, feeling uninspired to write, and through the story, she meets an actor who doesn’t work as much. There’s an air of pausing between characters who have artistic occupations, and the meeting provides inspiration to the novelist: she decides to make a short film with the actress Gil-soo (Kim Min-hee, Sang-soo’s partner and collaborator) inspired by her presence. Conversations revolve around getting older, resting, and whether a good life is bound up with being creatively productive or financially secure. Essentially the way forward reflects Sang-soo’s own practice, and in many ways the film is a knowing statement of purpose.
Outside of the meta element about creativity, I reflected upon the days, rarer now, where it would start with one thing, catching up with a friend, and then keep progressing unexpectedly. You decide to have one more drink, one location begets another, an aimless walk leads to an unexpected encounter. The Novelist’s Film takes place over one day and we follow the main character move without a plan, deciding to go for a walk and visit a tower, bumping into people she knows or meeting people for the first time. Both comedy and depth comes from observing the characters conversing, humour in the awkwardness between then, and emotion from what might be unsaid or bluntly imparted. The beauty of the film is how these two connections are tied together, that creativity and ideas are inspired by living life and letting things unfold rather than forcing them into prescribed work. Shot digitally in black and white, film assembles mundane environments like bookshops and restaurants and parks, which are rendered acutely, and occasionally finds visual poetry, such as when characters walk up the park steps into a white sky of nothingness.
Regular players appear such as Kwon Hae-hyo and Ki Joo-bong, and particularly Seo Young-hwa who always brings a grounded presence to Sang-soo’s movies. Would The Novelist’s Film be a good entry point to Hong Sang-soo? Possibly – it has a strong protagonist in the Novelist who does not hold back in some social situations, though the ending might be elusive without knowledge of Sang-soo’s history particularly with Kim Min-hee. The Woman Who Ran and Grass were the first ones I saw, and both are like a collection of scenes and either would be a good start. I would also recommend Tale Of Cinema and In Front Of Your Face.
Available on SBS On Demand. Recommended.
VHS Tracking 