What is it about Hong Sang-soo's deceptively simple films that affect me, and so many others? His films are very much like an episode of Seinfeld (in that they consist entirely of awkward moments), but drained of all the energy. Instead what we have left over is pure, distilled dysfunction and alienation. Hong's characters are losers, especially his perpetually drunk, sex-hungry, might-as-well-be-adolescents male protagonists. Yet they are endearing. Hong is notorious for getting his actors drunk before shooting, and whether or not this is true, there is a raw emotional honesty on display in his works. Simple and unpretentious have become overused buzzwords, but here they genuinely apply. At the beginning of the film, one of the characters breaks down during what had been a pleasant conversation and screams at his friend for hugging his wife "like an American". It is the little things like these that bring a degree of naturalism to his works, and make them so engaging. If there is one thing that separates Woman Is the Future of Man from the other films I have seen by Hong so far, it is that his trademark cynicism is somewhat tempered here, and while none of the characters wind up happy in the end, there is not quite that feeling of overwhelming emotional despair present in his other movies. There is even something like hope. Aside from the transformative ending of Tale of Cinema, Hong comes the closest here to acknowledging that maybe men and women are not as divided as they appear to be.
Comments
Post a Comment