‘On the Beach at Night Alone’

Hong Sang-soo’s film is as intense as it is personal

Writing about any of Hong Sang-soo’s films can be a daunting endeavor. There is perhaps an argument that his films are often about the same thing: relationships and awkward encounters as filmmakers, professors or artists consuming soju as they discuss love and life. What is so difficult about that you may ask?

But beneath the surface, Hong’s formidable formative approach to filmmaking is quite remarkable. Like a child piecing together a jigsaw puz- zle, Hong challenges his audience through the perplexing structure of his films — Hong’s award-winning “Right Now, Wrong Then” (2015) is such an example as he plays with variation telling the same story twice of a director who meets a painter, but with subtle differences.

Slight variation is also echoed in Hong’s filmography. In “Hill of Freedom” (2014), Hong scripted much of the dialogue in English providing another set of interesting but different encounters. In “Yourself and Yours” (2016) there appears to be more of a resolution to the film’s denouement compared to his other features.

Indeed, Hong invariably works with the same actors, but not always. Jung Yu-mi, for example, has been featured in many of his films such as “Oki’s Movie” (2010) and “Our Sunhi” (2013), but more recently he has turned to Kim Min-hee.

Hong has also worked with talent from overseas. “In Another Country” (2012) it stars French actress Isabelle Huppert who is also to appear in Hong’s next film, his 20th feature “Claire’s Camera” that is set in Cannes during the film festival begging the question, will it premiere in the Croisette in May?

Then there are stylistic choices which he is remembered for: abrupt zooms and long takes. But that doesn’t mean all his films look the same. He often shoots in color, but he has also made films in black and white such as “Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors” (2000) and “The Day He Arrives” (2011).

Often scripting the leading characters as filmmakers, professors or artists, one aspect of his films that tends to remain consistent are the parallels to Hong himself, which makes it no surprise that his latest “On the Beach at Night Alone” is personal. But this time, his musings on love and life, evidently shaped by experiences, are certainly bolder than the rest of his body of work.

The film about an actress, played by Kim Min-hee, who had a relationship with an older married filmmaker premiered at the Berlin film festival last month and was very well-received at the festival garnering strong reviews in the international press.

But it was Kim Min-hee who made history becoming the first Korean actress to win the Silver Bear for Best Actress award at the festival.

The film has generated much speculation locally owing to the similarities between the film’s narrative and the relationship between the director and the film’s leading actress, which was confirmed by Hong at a press conference on Monday following the film’s local press screening.

June last year, after the release of Park Chan-wook’s “The Handmaiden,” which Kim also starred in, it was reported in the local press that the two were having an affair — though rumors of their relationship were circulating in the local film industry for some months before this.

What is interesting is that Hong appears to have made a film that explores the issues they face being in the public eye even though the film was shot several months before it was made public.

It addresses the problems Kim would encounter as an actress in Korea having been involved in a relationship with an older married man with the film beginning in Hamburg, Germany, where the actress, Young-hee, takes some time out before returning to Korea. But avoiding the Seoul metropolis she heads to the seaside town of Gangneung to meet an older friend. The title suggests such a scandal can result in isolation.

Things come to a head in a scene towards the end between the director played by Moon Sung-keun and the actress. Both drunk, they talk about their relationship at a dinner in front of his staff in what is possibly one of the most intense scenes I have seen in a Hong Sang-soo film. The intensity is all the more awkward owing to the off -screen romance that it appears to be making reference to.

Yet, Hong also manages to add some self-deprecating humour as he refers to his own unorthodox style when the drunken director says, “So I shoot the first scene and see where it goes.”

The film is intense, personal and certainly awkward, but this is Hong Sang-soo doing what he does best even though the film lacks the narrative complexity underlying many of his other films.

It is also another opportunity to see Kim Min-hee shine. She will be judged in Korea, unfairly I would argue, because of her relationship with Hong, but she is an immense talent that I hope to see much more of on the big screen.

“On the Beach at Night Alone” will be released in Korea on March 23.

The film is intense, personal and certainly awkward, but this is Hong Sang-soo doing what he does best.

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film Actress Kim Min-hee in a scene from Hong Sang-soo’s “On the Beach at Night Alone”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “Our Sunhi”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “Right Now, Wrong Then”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “The Day He Arrives”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “Yourself and Yours”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “Nobody’s Daughter Haewon”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “Oki’s Movie”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “In Another Country”

Courtesy of Jeonwonsa Film A still from “Hill of Freedom”