Andrew Eckholm at n+1:
The narrative premises of Hong Sangsoo’s films tend to be simple. A chance encounter on the street. A quick trip to a nearby town. A man walks into a bar. Where the films of a director like, say, his countryman Bong Joon-Ho unfold through the exposition of a concept, Hong’s films are not built around ideas. The plot is not contained in the premise. Instead, he presents you with a place, an actor, a situation. From there the movie proceeds with an aleatory nimbleness, noticing details—a repeated gesture, a revealing bit of dialogue—that accumulate to reveal the characters and story. The director’s camera technique is likewise simple: extraordinarily long, single-shot, carefully composed scenes of people, often drunk at a table and trending toward conflict; roving zooms and pans, more likely to settle on a listener than a speaker; opening or concluding camera drifts that call attention to some stray object, animal, or landscape feature.
The 64-year-old South Korean director—who to date has made thirty-four films—is probably most famed for his lightweight production methods.
more here.
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