The Novelist's Film Review: Yet Another Cyclical Hong Sangsoo Movie
© Provided by FilmWebSouth Korean director Hong Sang-soo caused a stir at international film festivals after the release of his first feature film, The Day She Fell Into the Pig Pit in 1996. Like other South Korean directors, he had 35 years when the film was released . The day the pig fell into the well . Eight years later, however, Hong's films began showing at the Cannes Film Festival, winning awards for decades. His latest film The Proseika's won the Silver Bear at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.
Throughout his film career, Hong is known for his unique use of shots, absurd stories involving artistic dialogue, and his co-starring protagonist. Many of the protagonists are writers, actors, and directors who are about to change, especially when it comes to their careers. Their relationship confuses ideas about what it means to be an artist. But at the end of each of Hoon's films, there's a universal element he brings to the table, a philosophical question about what it means to be a creative person who is deeply rooted in South Korea and beyond.
Lee Hye-yong, who starred in popular South Korean drama Berry Blossoms , will appear in one of the lead roles alongside another familiar face from the Hong Kong film world: Kim Min-hee. The tall, lanky South Korean actress is best known in the West for her role in Park Chan-wook's The Maid, but her recent work has mostly focused on Hong's creative works (unsurprisingly, considering given their personal history). Kwon Hye Hyo, who previously starred in the movie Hong on the Beach at Night, had a brief stint as a celebrity director who clashed with the movie's screenwriter.
One-day integration course
Those familiar with Hong's earlier works will find many familiar characters and situations in The Novelist . While the early films have male protagonists wandering the streets of an unnamed Korean city or sometimes Seoul, later films show how the film develops. It's true in The Novelist : the main character is Joon Hee (Lee Hye Young), a famous writer who anyone who meets her on the street will have a vague idea of who she is. He leaves Seoul for unclear reasons, but on his daily journey he continues to meet people from his past whether he likes it or not.
First, there is a bookseller who knows Joon Hee, herself a writer. Sitting with Joon-hee on the street, the woman quietly tells Joon-hee that she used to write with passion but once stopped and now owns a bookstore where locals like to kill time. He works with a 30-year-old colleague who gave up her acting dreams to learn sign language. After a brief chat over coffee, the two women from the bookstore escort Joon Hee to the tower where he meets the manager and his wife. Joon Hee and the director are shunned by her at first and get into many arguments – or small talk – about sacrificing art for money, wealth, and influence, not about contract.
Their conflicting opinions are added to the next clip when they meet a famous former actress walking in the park. This scene looks like a Hong Sang Sun movie as Kim Min Hee plays the role of the actor. Kim has shown a tendency to draw inspiration from former actresses in her recent work. The director decided to tell the somewhat confused actress that she had made a big mistake by refusing big projects. Jung Hee blames him one last time by shouting in front of his wife and actress Gil Soo, while Gil Soo and Joon Hee continue to walk in the park. The two get along well, and when Gil-soo's nephew, a film student at the local Korean university, arrives, Jung-hee decides it's time to start making a short film with Gil-soo and his husband, another famous artist. .
The final arc of the film continues this thought process, with Gil Soo and Joon Hee dancing to whether or not this will happen and what the story will be about. Although these women were strangers before meeting in the park, they only found each other through the unknown director and his wife, their world is narrow: the social circles in which they live are the same people . When this short is finally shot, it becomes even clearer that this is a movie. Frustrated with writer's block and the lack of creative inspiration from the projects they've taken on, it seems like they've finally reached a point of creative relaxation through their collective experience, rediscovering what it means to love a project.
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Famous Movie Hong Sang Soo
A casual viewer unfamiliar with Hong's work will find a film like The Novelist 's Movie unappealing, as it tells a lot about the artist, screenwriter, and director's creative process. His characters find themselves in a certain period of time, orienting themselves in familiar situations. On the surface, it's a film that moves aimlessly, connecting events with secondary threads, such as Makaeoli and Teokboki's mutual interest, what you can eat and drink, or various characters that show Jung Hee as a beautiful character. Small doses of humor are injected into each scene, breaking the monotony for a brief moment.
Despite this similarity in the film, the characters are troubled by a sense of urgency. Two characters, two women who work in a bookstore, have already given up on their dreams in the creative world. Now the owner realizes that people go there just to waste time, so they make a living working in a bookstore that doesn't seem very busy. Director Joon Hee met in the tower seeks to attract more public attention, which led former actress Gil Soo to openly criticize him and tell him that he is wasting his opportunities in life. However, Gil So follows her natural path in life and decides to use the opportunities to her advantage, even though she is against big blockbuster roles. Many characters are in the midst of a creative flow, and when something new comes along, certain paths may become apparent.
The novelist's film is beautifully shot in black and white and the photography is impressive. There are characteristics of a Hong Sang-soo film, such as his technique of approaching characters in conversation, and the South Korean artists' lens resembles a film about life. It changes to color for a few moments at the end of the movie, symbolizing how you can rediscover your muse with only characters walking in and out of the world when the world is so dark and the signs of life look like winter. Thanks to the carefully written script, the repetitive nature of the movie doesn't seem to get in the way, it seems to end up introducing new characters and dismissing others after their prime.
This film isn't Hong's finest work, but it's no surprise that it continues to be a huge hit at international film festivals. Almost immediately recognized as one of his works, it continues his earlier themes and discussions of cinema and art that he showed in his earlier films. However, Hong has a few tricks that make the viewer pause and continue watching. But, at the same time, Hoon himself probably won't be taking a break like his main characters, but instead focusing on his next movie project. Anyway, it will definitely be at the next vacation.
The novel premiered as part of the 2022 New York Film Festival.
