Erin StapletonDown and Out in Paris and Seoul
July 31st 2008 11:41
“Night and Day” (Bam gua nat) by Sang-soo Hong, 2008.
So until today, I had the impression that all Korean films were good. Well, not really, but pretty close. This one was a little bit average, though admittedly, not entirely without its appeals. It had some really lovely camera work, and I did appreciate how the camera seemed to get bored of the main character, Sung-nam Kim and would wander off. There was one bit, where it followed water draining in the gutter, which sounds really vomit-inducing, cliche like, but somehow wasn’t. It did explain a lot about weird mating rituals with the giggling and had some strange, unresolved homoeroticism going on with a character called Mr Jang. I dunno what that was. And quite effectively represented a kind of outsider feel that comes with being plonked in another country without being able to speak the language, or have any instinct for the culture. (The whole time I was watching it, I was thinking, my god, you CANNOT go out in public looking like THAT in Paris. You just can’t.)
Actually what struck me, was the lack of interaction with the locals in this film. Sung-nam Kim finds himself in a Korean boarding house, accepted into the local Korean community. The interactions with French people are limited to shop assistants and a bizarre exchange outside the airport. The real cultural clash occurs when he meets a guy from North Korea, and accidentally (sort of) insults his ‘great father’ (Kim Jong Il).
But so, in the film, it would seem every character announces that they are a ‘painter’ and talk about their art (and Van Gogh’s actually) in this really conservative way, as though the last 100 years of art never happened. This was particularly distressing for me, given my penchant for Korean art, it’s a mecca for the posthuman and new media. Not decorative painting. Also, I really really object to unannounced ‘dream sequences’ in films, by way of plot device. They are a cheap, bad storytelling ploy. More or less always. And they fuck my respect for the film, ‘but it was all a dream…’
Plus, there were some truly outrageous misogynist aspects, moments, and so on and forth about the film. I’m really not sure whether they were self-conscious, pointing out how awful it all is, but I suspect not. I’m not certain whether the filmmaker wanted us to be outraged. Or whether it was supposed to be just normal.
To be honest, for a lot of the film, I was just bored. And I really wanted the giggling to stop.
4/10
So until today, I had the impression that all Korean films were good. Well, not really, but pretty close. This one was a little bit average, though admittedly, not entirely without its appeals. It had some really lovely camera work, and I did appreciate how the camera seemed to get bored of the main character, Sung-nam Kim and would wander off. There was one bit, where it followed water draining in the gutter, which sounds really vomit-inducing, cliche like, but somehow wasn’t. It did explain a lot about weird mating rituals with the giggling and had some strange, unresolved homoeroticism going on with a character called Mr Jang. I dunno what that was. And quite effectively represented a kind of outsider feel that comes with being plonked in another country without being able to speak the language, or have any instinct for the culture. (The whole time I was watching it, I was thinking, my god, you CANNOT go out in public looking like THAT in Paris. You just can’t.)
a 'painter' in paris
Actually what struck me, was the lack of interaction with the locals in this film. Sung-nam Kim finds himself in a Korean boarding house, accepted into the local Korean community. The interactions with French people are limited to shop assistants and a bizarre exchange outside the airport. The real cultural clash occurs when he meets a guy from North Korea, and accidentally (sort of) insults his ‘great father’ (Kim Jong Il).
But so, in the film, it would seem every character announces that they are a ‘painter’ and talk about their art (and Van Gogh’s actually) in this really conservative way, as though the last 100 years of art never happened. This was particularly distressing for me, given my penchant for Korean art, it’s a mecca for the posthuman and new media. Not decorative painting. Also, I really really object to unannounced ‘dream sequences’ in films, by way of plot device. They are a cheap, bad storytelling ploy. More or less always. And they fuck my respect for the film, ‘but it was all a dream…’
Plus, there were some truly outrageous misogynist aspects, moments, and so on and forth about the film. I’m really not sure whether they were self-conscious, pointing out how awful it all is, but I suspect not. I’m not certain whether the filmmaker wanted us to be outraged. Or whether it was supposed to be just normal.
To be honest, for a lot of the film, I was just bored. And I really wanted the giggling to stop.
4/10
| 33 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
