![]() Filmbrain's initial reaction to Woman is the Future of Man was one of disappointment. At a mere eighty-seven minutes, it felt truncated, as if huge chunks were missing. Perhaps expectations were too high, especially coming on the heels of Turning Gate. Maybe the critics were right, and this was a throwaway film for Hong. Unconvinced, Filmbrain revisited the film two more times in the course of three days, and as a result has fallen under the spell of this wonderful enigmatic little film. If you've never seen a Hong Sang-soo film before, perhaps this isn't the one to start with. Though many of Hong's trademarks scenes and themes are present, Filmbrain can see how this might put somebody off his films for good. Woman... tells the story of two friends, Mun-ho (Yu Ji-tae, the nemesis from Oldboy) and Hyeon-gon (Kim Tae-woo), who meet after a gap of several years, and spend a few days together. Hyeon-gon has just come back from America, where he had hoped to become a successful filmmaker. Returning as a failure, he visits his friend Mun-ho, who gave up his artistic endeavors years ago in exchange for the safety of marriage and teaching art at a university. It's immediately clear that there is both tension and jealousy between them, and pretty soon the conversation turns to Seon-hwa (Seong Hyeon-a), a woman they both knew years ago. After each of them has their own private flashbacks, they decide to go and visit her. The remainder of the film is classic Hong -- uncomfortable confrontations, drunken confessions, and awkward sexual trysts -- though not exactly as we are used to. It's been said that with this film Hong wanted to create a work that was self-critical, and both male characters can be seen as two different sides of Hong (he has been both a filmmaker and a university professor) -- as the filmmaker, Hyeon-gon is the over-sensitive, over-dramatic, insecure, jealous type who is unable to properly express his emotions, while Mun-ho is the selfish, cheating, insensitive lover who is clueless about women ("Women shave their legs?"), and cares more about job security than he does his wife. Hong, as in all his other films, once again exposes men as the immature, simple, predictable, woman-chasing dogs that we are. Though Hong has used this dynamic before (two men after the same woman), it's never been handled quite like this. It's more akin to Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors than it is to Turning Gate or The Day a Pig Fell into a Well. In Virgin..., we see two radically different interpretations of Soo-jung's suitor -- one as awkward would-be lover, and one as regular Lothario. This time, we find two men, different in almost all characteristics, but using the same tired, pathetic techniques when it comes to women. At a restaurant, both men make a pitiful play for the waitress (unbeknownst to the other) using a slight variation of the same approach. This idea of repetition with variation is one of Hong's staples, and it is used to good effect here (particularly in the last third of the film). As Seon-hwa, Seong Hyeon-a is magnificent in her portrayal of a woman who goes from innocent university student to jaded, savvy, bar owner. (Her journey was often paved with misfortune, always brought on by the men in her life.) When the unhappy trio finally meet up, it becomes clear how damaged all three of them are emotionally. Their one night together cannot mend the events of the past, try as they might. The film takes a somewhat unexpected shift in focus during the final third, and it was only on the subsequent viewings that Filmbrain understood why. Though not terribly dissimilar to his other films, there are subtleties here that are unlike anything he's done before. Woman is the Future of Man is Hong at his most minimalist, and at the same time his most European. Even without the Gallic infused violin and accordion score, the film harkens back to the nouvelle vague, and there is more than a hint of the Rohmer-esque to it. Though not as satisfying as his other features, Woman is the Future of Man once again proves that Hong is unequaled when it comes to honestly exposing the weaknesses of the male psyche, particularly as it concerns women, relationships, and sex. Woman is the Future of Man screens at the New York Film Festival on Friday Oct. 8 @ 6:00PM and Saturday Oct. 9 @ 6:00PM. |
Rohmeresque hint and Bunuelisque style.
Posted by: nkw88 | 2004.09.27 at 01:38 PM
Saw this for the third time over the weekend at the Korean International Film Festival held by the American Cinematheque in Hollywood. Hong Sang-Soo had been planning to attend(!) but was held up in Canada. At any rate, this is definitely a film that becomes richer and more rewarding with repeat viewings. What really struck me this time was how good the music and sound design are. During the scene where you can see Hyeon-gon dancing with the next door neighbor through the glass and the camera pans over to reveal Mun-ho and Seon-hwa at the window - the sound of the man selling rice cakes down on the street echoed through the theater and sent chills down my spine. Hong is certainly up to something quite interesting; as his body of work grows it feels as if each film attempts to answer the questions raised by the previous, to explore the psyches and motivations of the characters so that a deeper understanding of the relationships between these people seems almost possible, but always slightly out of reach.
There is an excellent analysis of Hong’s work in the new Film Quarterly: http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/abs/10.1525/fq.2004.57.4.22
Posted by: Greg Samsa | 2004.09.27 at 02:56 PM
Yeah, whoa I'm glad you have the link to that astonishingly off-base Hollywood Reporter review. I was just itching to read some reviews of "Woman" after it premiered at Cannes and the only one I could find was this imbicilic piece written by a "critic" who obviously had no idea who Hong was nor had even a minimal amount of knowledge about Korean film. It was when the respectable reviews started coming in and giving the film middling-to-poor comments (for example: http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=1194) that I got worried. An initial viewing of the film on DVD confirmed my suspicion that it wasn't among Hong's best (I'd have ranked it with my least favorite, "A Woman Stripped Bare..."). It seemed to ramble for too long until it finally became interesting in the last 15 minutes or so. But a second viewing confirms that there is actually quite a bit going on in this one. As with all the director's films, the incidental, seemingly patchwork (or, to quote the Hollywood Reporter, "amateurish") style is in fact very carefully composed. Although I still wouldn't rank it with Hong's greatest films "The Turning Gate" or "The Power of Kangwon Province," it's still the kind of sad, quietly insightful kind of flick that he excells at. But I wouldn't recommend it to someone unfamiliar with Hong's previous work or who hasn't lived in Korea before (where the sort of behavior exhibited by the main characters is quite common).
Posted by: Kris | 2004.12.04 at 01:38 AM
I could not agree with you more. Perfectly stated.
Posted by: Filmbrain | 2004.12.04 at 07:19 PM