'Night' Shows Innovative Minimalism

Several films have put Hong Sang-soo on the cinematic map as a unique minimalist, and he upholds the reputation with his latest work ``Night and Day.'' He captures the quizzical human sentiment with subtlety and presents mundane scenes with crafty simplicity.

``Night and Day'' marks Hong's first project shot outside of Korea. It is set in Paris where Hong himself had resided temporarily. While the film is thoroughly Korean in nature, it has that dash of ``je ne sais quoi'' inherent to French films.

It recently premiered at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival, earning positive reviews from international critics.

Actor Kim Young-ho stars as Seung-nam, a painter in his early 40s who is about to get arrested for smoking marijuana. Scared, he flees to Paris, leaving behind his beloved wife (Hwang Su-jung). He finds lodging at a small bed and breakfast run by a Korean, and so begins his so-called fugitive life.

During the day he lounges around, wandering the streets and prowling parks, while at night he cries with his wife over the phone. He runs into a former girlfriend, but when she tries to seduce him, it doesn't ignite any interest for him. He's much too worried about his wife.

But as days go by, he begins to settle down, befriending other lodgers and exploring the city with ease. Here, Hong depicts not so much the touristy landmarks of Paris but rather the small wonders of living there: small galleries tucked away in obscure alleyways, cheap attics rented out by students, the cafe around the corner and water sweeping down the filth of the street.

Seung-nam becomes a sort of cartoon character, donning pretty much the same outfit and backpack, and always carrying around some sort of small plastic bag.

Nobody suspects Seung-nam, a ``free-spirited'' artist, and his ``spontaneous trip.'' He is even introduced to the small community of Korean artists around the 14th district. Among them is Yu-jeong (Park Eun-hye), a beautiful and talented young art student, to whom he grows increasingly attracted.

He finally does manage to win Yu-jeong's heart, and engages in a dreamy romance. But his unsuspecting, but increasingly anxious, wife brings him back to Korea and back to reality ― which isn't so bad either.

While men may find Seung-nam tolerable ― and can even sympathize with him ― women may despise him, as his mindless philandering leaves several women in despair. For example, his former girlfriend reveals that she had six abortions while they dated, but he fails to do anything about it. He wrongs her again when he doesn't have the guts to reject her advances directly ― he takes her to a hotel room and reads her a passage from the Bible.

Likewise, with Yu-jeong, he pursues her aggressively, but his so-called love for her is more like an adolescent infatuation. He's just simple-minded and indecisive, and above all faithful to his current situation ― and his fleeting feelings ― and submits to sexual cravings.

The movie is charmingly anticlimactic as it walks the blurred line between night and day, reality and dreams, tragedy and comedy, and love and lust. It captures the movie-like moments of our lives, making it a life-like movie.

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter