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 ale of
Cinema", nominated for the Golden Palm at the 2005 Cannes Festival,
marks the sixth effort by Hong Sang-soo, a South Korean auteur whose
films (including "The Future of Man is Woman" and "Virgin Stripped
Bare by her Bachelors") have won considerable admiration and praise
on the art house circuit. With "Cinema", Hong continues to develop
both stylistically and thematically, with a deceptively simple tale
of illusion and the effects of unobtainable fantasy on real life.
Despite an initially glum premise, the film is both challenging and
progressive, and sees the director directly engaging the viewer in
an intellectually fascinating manner without straying too far into
the realms of the obscure.
The plot begins in Seoul with a young man named
Sang-weon (Lee Gi-woo, "Windstruck"),
who after declining to join his brother on a trip to the mountains,
wanders down an alleyway only to spot a girl (Eom Ji-weon, "The
Scarlet Letter") he was previously involved with, though not to
the point of actually having a relationship. The two agree to meet
that night, and after dinner and a number of drinks, decide to
commit suicide together. Despite several attempts, the two fail, and
the young man ends up back with his family, revealing that it may be
his mother's harsh and uncaring attitude which has driven him to try
and take his own life.
The film then suddenly switches to an older
man, Tong-su (Kim Sang-gyeong, "Memories of Murder"), who is leaving
a cinema that is showing a series of films by a director who has
since fallen seriously ill. Tong-su encounters an old friend, and it
transpires that a reunion of the ill director's classmates from film
school is due to take place that night, to which Tong-su is invited,
but may not be particularly welcome due to his past behaviour.
Gradually, it appears that Tong-su, also a film maker, believes that
the ill director has stolen his life story to make into a film, a
fact which he quite clearly has never been able to get over or live
up to. And so Tong-su wanders around the city, through many of the
same locations, until he runs into the actress from the film, and
attempts to live out the on-screen relationship.
Although the above may sound fairly familiar,
Hong structures the narrative in a subtle manner, and never falls
into either the clichés or pretensions of the usual 'film versus
reality' plot. "Tale of Cinema" is quite obviously and markedly a
film of two parts, though their joining is skilfully done, and in a
manner which may take some time to fully sink in. It is at this
bridging point that the film begins proper, and the viewer is slowly
but surely drawn further into the story, as Hong cleverly and
intricately links the two sections through a number of visual and
thematic details. Indeed, "Tale of Cinema" begs for a second viewing
and further analysis, as Hong fills almost every frame with meaning,
revealing both the characters' motivations and the director's own
concerns.
"Tale of Cinema" is thematically fascinating and open to a number of
different interpretations, and Hong offers clues and suggestions
rather than give simple answers or patronising the viewer by
spelling things out. Hong is examining the ways in which fantasies
can lead to self-delusion and bitterness by using the language and
metaphor of cinema in a very humanistic fashion. As a result, the
film is an almost meditative experience, and a rare example of
cinema which encourages the viewer to think, and to do so openly and
freely, not only about what is being shown, but about their own
lives.
Hong's direction is
simplistic yet revealing, and he opts for an approach which is both
realistic and at times self-consciously cinematic. This is most
obvious through his use of zooming for emphasis, and to draw the
viewer's attention, generally to the reactions of characters. At
times this is used a little over zealously, and as such works both
to give the film an almost documentary feel, and to draw attention
to its formal structure. Despite this, Hong allows the proceedings
to develop in a fairly loose, organic style and with an exploratory,
discursive aspect that allows the viewer to feel involved rather
than as a mere onlooker.
It is this quality which really sets "Tale of
Cinema" apart from other films, and makes it highly recommended to
viewers who enjoy intelligent, challenging films. Although this is a
film which certainly requires thought and work, it is one which
offers considerable rewards, and which credits its audience with the
ability to think and form their own ideas – a rare, inspiring trait
which is all too rare in modern cinema.
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