esrosedotblog

REPEATING THE SAME ACTIONS

Todays NYTimes Critics' Pick film was Hong Sang-soo's brilliant

Book chon bang hyang / The Day He Arrives (2011)

in which a retired film director walks the streets of a Seoul neighborhood experiencing people and events both from his past and present which in one form or another, keep repeating themselves.

Of course, he brings himself to each encounter.

Shot in digital black and white, a first for me, and seen on the big iMac screen, this is a moving and always challenging film to watch.

It is not inscrutable. There is no doubt about what is up. What is exciting is the almost seamless way in which the "director" and the characters repeat the same situations but show how they might be different with a small change in the sequence.

This is thoroughly explained by the characters as they sit in a bar. They are film people after all. All of them.

A study in the importance of minor circumstance.

At first I thought the director was the director himself. It is that first person thing, so real and tangible. But no. It is a show. Not a tell.

In a way, this is not a spoiler, the film ends where it begins. But with a finale that is breathtaking. To me.

I would not mind seeing this again because there are subtleties that I saw. How many did I miss? But the game has been given away and I am not sure that a repeat would yield the same experience. Of course, that is the point of the film. Small variations in circumstance can yield quite different results.

I am really really glad that I saw this. A 4 out of Netflix5. I would want to see some other of his films. Perhaps I have. I have seen the lead actor before. I love Korean films.

Now here is something!

The trailer is just a key scene shown in reverse in color and with added graphics.

As ingenious as the film.

Far fucking out. What a surprise.

Labels: films