Review: "The Novelist's Film" Looks At Filmmaker's Creative Process Through Chance Encounters

The author is Junhee (Lee Hye Young), who has stopped writing outside of Seoul and dares to visit his former colleague (Seo Young Hwa), who now runs a bookstore in a quiet town.

While in college, she meets a director (Kwon Hye Hyo) who once rejected one of her novels and tries to pitch it to investors and retired Korean movie star Kil Sun (Kim Min Hee).

Like all movies, these matches are inherent in the script, the scenes and the acting.

Hong used one or two static shots in each scene, then moved on to the next scene and conversation. This approach and choice of black and white makes the prose film both real - as if we were standing in the room watching each scene - and a step away from the center of color reality.

Likewise, the film's script is deliberately naturalistic and reflective of the artists' nature and deep insecurities and the creative process. And she wisely asks Hong Joon Hee to talk about how to write the script before the movie. Coup d'état - the master director's own method.

The acting is as realistic and natural as the cinematography and script, with Lee playing the charismatic novelist as the haughty "star" with humble insecurities. On the other hand, Ki Joo Bong is especially interesting as a drunken poet who unexpectedly arrives at the bookstore and discovers something about Junhee's past.

Wandering from place to place, meeting after meeting, it brings to mind Richard Linklater's film Slacker, which explored bohemian Austin with shocking scenes 22 years ago.

But this picture is funny, and it is definitely not a "novelist's film". Instead, it's a quiet gem that tells the story of Junhee, offering a rare and honest look at the creator's creative process.