CULTURE / MOVIE
6 Weeks Continuous Project < Maybe New Hong Sang-Soo > First Week
Naruyoshi Kikuchi talks about Hong Sang-Soo. New front which reached with”And Then”

Starting from”And Then” released on June 9, Hong Sang-Soo will be released four times in a row. Hon Sang-soo's works have strong fans. On the other hand, he has been pointed out that "every time the same way". However, with this work group Hong Sang-soo has changed, or has not changed.

Truth is really -Series project "Each Hong Sang-Soo". Naruyoshi Kikuchi who has been watching from the initial work saw 4 films.

After experiencing collapse, returning to daily life. What the existence of muse has given to Hong Sang-Soo.

”And Then”

Hong Sang-soo said in an interview that "Life is not about twists and turns, in fact 80% of life is just repeating the same thing." That kind of iron concept was backing the unique method of his work. Therefore movies are very high quality as self-mentioned. ”Right Now, Wrong Then”, “The Day He Arrives” and ”In Another Country” repeat the same day or a part of the day a few times repeatedly. It also leads to minimal music. It seems that the same thing is repeated all the time, but it changes little by little. It is like everyday life, like a dream, like music, also like nature.

In the past he had spent a minimal life that matched his movie. What happens if a muse suddenly appears there? There are many directors who change muses. For example, Jean-Luc-Godard had muses Anna Karina, Anne Wiazemsky and Anne Marie Mieville. It is not related to the purpose of our class but ”In Another Country” is the one. Hitchcock is also its representative (although he does not change his style by muse).

”Right Now, Wrong Then”

On the other hand, there are also directors without a muse. There had been no muse in Hong Sang-Soo for a long time. Placing humans in a certain place and leaving them alone, various things happen. He was shooting a kind of thing like his respect to Rohmer like the observation diary of insect. It is highlighted in the form of minimal. The extreme is ”Right Now, Wrong Then.” Repeating a certain time, the two are slightly misaligned. Showing the parallel universe, minimalism influenced by minimal music and minimal art is being performed in feature films. It was almost even a miracle.

Sailing a minimal life, taking a minimal movie, was self-mentioned, for the first time "failure" arrived in the life of Hong Sang-soo, which has been completed in a sense. His life met something not minimal. It's like a war has come to people who worked in farm fairly.

”On the Beach at Night Alone”

As a result, how much does it have on his work? Some writers have no influence on private life at work. Some writers have it directly. Hong Sang-soo was the latter. At first glance it looks like the usual style, but the internal pressure is totally different. It must have been chased by mass media or scolded by scandal with Kim Min-hee. That is definite in the movies. ”Claire’s Camera” is just harassment to director Park Chan-Wook. When the heroin Kim Min-hee plays was said to be "too much cosmetic," or when she was wearing shorts, he said "You are not such a cheap woman, you are not selling yourself with curiosity." That was reflected in an unspeakable mention to Kim Min-hee naked with Park Chan-Wook 's ”The Handmaiden” which was globally appreciated. ”The Handmaiden” was filmed in Cannes at the time of screening. The texture of the work was totally different from usual; it became a painful and disgusting feeling.

”Right Now, Wrong Then” before the scandal is wonderful. It is the highest masterpiece of that style. Despite being improvised, the movie's fraternity is attractive and well made. It was telling the beginning of romantic love later, they are also joyful. However, from the following ”On the Beach at Night Alone” and ”Claire’s Camera”, that conceptual ingenuity is not done, and it is just omnidirectional (mass media, Kim Min-hee herself, the world in which the minimal was broken down, Confucian ethics in South Korea, etc., the whole world) disgust, and lamentation and resignation are scattered.

”Claire’s Camera”

Hung Sang-soo got the muse and could not make works full of joy. We cannot help summing up in good or bad meaning. In a sense it is aloof; most directors do not hide funny pleasures in the first episode after get the muse. The minimalism torch could not bear it. Relationship between the wife and the mistress calms down, and when the everyday minimal comes again, then the movie finally got into regular condition. It is not a work in the scandal, but “And Then” is very pleasant. An affair was expressed, and there was no iteration like it used to be. It is a happy ending, there is a heristic calm of Japanese culture. A good movie, it's a new ground.

Should it be considered as a moment when everyday was disconnected when an incompetence visits everyday life that has been repeated indefinitely, or is that disconnection also one of the minimal and will it go back again? Hong Sang-soo showed both of them with these four films. ”And Then” is the everyday life that has returned after experiencing the disquietation, and the depth is increasing. Hon Sang-Soo was a rather cramped Cinefil and documentalist, and ”And Then” described the story properly and that became an autonomous work. It is not a sweet movie that praises muses, but made bitter things ... ... It may be like Hong Sang-Soo.

People who made bitter works with a muse are unusual. When a muse appeared in a form different from the previous muses, a deeper work was born. Looking at the long span, what the existence of Muse gave to Hong Sang's life is very big.

Written by：Toji Aida(相田冬二)