South Korean writer-director Hong Sang-soo sparked a minor scandal in 2016 when tabloid journalists reported he’d been having an extramarital affair with actress Kim Min-hee. Hong admitted to the affair in early 2017 at the Berlin film festival, where he premiered On the Beach at Night Alone; the film stars Kim as an actress who self-destructs after breaking off an affair with a married director. Hong and Kim seemed to be getting the last laugh at the scandalmongers (in real life the pair hadn’t split up), but they were just getting started. Two more collaborations followed in 2017, Claire’s Camera and The Day After, both of which center on infidelity. Hong has been playfully blurring the line between fiction and autobiography since the early 2000s, but now he has a partner in his creative endeavor.
As the principal characters change, Hong charts their growth through a subtle visual language that emphasizes minute gestures and interpersonal rifts. The director favors medium shots that show all the participants of a conversation within the frame, which allows viewers to observe how they interact. Rather than cutting to close-ups, Hong zooms in and out, preserving the flow of the conversations and showing the characters as they squirm from each other in real time. This device is particularly effective in the early encounter between Bongwan and his wife, as he evades her accusations, yet Hong also uses it to impressive effect when the publisher takes Areum out to lunch. Their conversation drifts from professional responsibilities to personal beliefs; when Bongwan admits he doesn’t have a reason for living, Areum calls him a coward. Again Hong uses a long take to show how Bongwan feels trapped and ashamed when asked to explain himself.
Directed by Hong Sang-soo. 92 min.
