Tale of Cinema

All the films by Hong Sang-Soo, who won a Tiger Award in 1997 with his début The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well, have been screened in Rotterdam. His sixth film is a classic, yet relatively relaxed ‘Hong’. Tale of Cinema is not only a feast of recognition for the fans but also a must for the beginner, with its playful mirror structure, idiosyncratic Korean male-female issues (including plenty of booze and resolutely visualised sex) and its cruel yet clever humour. An unusual stylistic innovation is the incidental use of the zoom. On the street, Sang-Weon meets an old flame and the two of them try to rekindle their previously failed affair. After an evening of food, drink and unsuccessful sex, they decide to commit suicide together. As it starts snowing outside, their suicide pact also proves a failure. When he gets home, the boy gets a ticking off from his mother… Then we see former film student Tong-Su emerge from a cinema where he has just seen a film made by a successful but now seriously ill former classmate. Yeong-Shil, the protagonist in the film, is also in the auditorium. Tong-Su starts chatting and many elements from the failed advances that follow will look familiar to the viewer… Hong portrays developments without much difficulty or fuss. The superior qualities of this film do not become apparent at once, but only upon reflection. (GT)