Starring: Kim Sang-Kyung, Uhm Ji-Won, Lee Gi-Wu
Director: Hong Sang-Su
Studio: Big Blue Film
Rating: 18+
Genre: Drama
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About This DVD
Filmmaker Hong Sang-su's latest film "Tale of Cinema (Kukchangjon)" received a
surprise invitation to the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival just
about a week before the festival opens. The invitation marks Hong's fourth
advance to the Cannes festival. The other three include "The Power of Kangwon
Province" and "Virgin Stripped by Her Bachelors," invited for the "Un Certain
Regard" category. "Woman is the Future of Man" advanced to the last year's
feature competition section.
People are usually surprised when they find themselves unconsciously behaving or
speaking like their close friends. In his fourth film "On the Occasion of
Remembering the Turning Gate," director Hong Sang-su subtly depicted how people
imitate each other in their daily lives. But the movie was not popular at home
because it was not easy for viewers to notice the moments of imitation in the
main characters' seemingly unmotivated actions.
Hong is more focused on the same subject matter in his sixth and latest work
"Tale of Cinema," which uses close-ups to clearly show the emotions and actions
of its characters. His elliptical reflection on imitation in the latest movie
involves the relationship between film and reality. As the title suggests, "Tale
of Cinema" is a movie about the fact that films often depict experiences from
real life. People who see such films sometimes unconsciously act like the
protagonist.
Dong-su (Kim Sang-kyung) is an aspiring movie director who has been out of work
for about 10 years. He goes to see a film directed by his school buddy suffering
from lung cancer and meets up with the movie's beautiful lead actress on his way
home. Her name is Yong-sil (Uhm Ji-won), just like the main female character in
the movie.
Recognizing that the story is based on his own life, Dong-su tries to get closer
to the actress, convincing himself that their encounter is the result of
destiny. It is uncertain whether the movie depicts Dong-su's experience or Tong-su
acts under the influence of the movie.
From this point, Hong uses repetition to apparently blur the border between the
movie and reality. The film is divided into two movies that are closely related.
Interestingly, the audience sees the first movie at the same pace as Dong-su
sees it at the theater. Some background scenery, habits of characters, and even
the name of female lead of the first film is repeated in the second.
This narrative generates lots of laughs because of the behaviors of the lead
characters, which are not common in South Korean society. The scene in which
Dong-su tries to keep Yong-sil from leaving the motel room where they have sex,
while covering his body up to his chest with sheets, is comical because
seemingly a woman, not a man, would cover herself in such a way.
In South Korea, it is unusual for a woman to declare her desire to have sex and
for a man to ask for the telephone number of a woman that he has just met and to
confess his love to her. But these characters awaken us to assumptions that
exist but that we hardly recognize in our daily lives. Thanks to Hong's
insightful humor, the movie can be considered a good comedy for those who are
not accustomed to his style of moviemaking.
| Audio Format: | DD 5.1 Surround, DD 2.0 Stereo |
| Video Format: | Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic) |
| Languages: | Korean |
| Subtitles: | English, Korean |
| Country Made: | Korea |
| Region Code: | 3 |
| Year Made: | 2005 |
| Running Time: | 89 |
| Special Features: | - |
| Availability: | Usually ships in 5-10 days |
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