Turning Gate

Well I've heard a lot about the director, Hong Sang Soo, and his works, which seemed to be getting good responses from critics continuously. But never watched his work before. Maybe it was that critics saying good things about a film and you don't want to see it.

But my friends watched this and they all recommended it and so I gave it a shot. Well I was astonished. This film deals with relationships-especially relationships between men and women, can be called a comedy impov, but there¡¯s not a single sweet moment that we usually see in romantic comedies.

This film shows us two successive love affairs a man experience and it¡¯s really amazing how the director portrays them perceiving their relationship on their own ground. The characters are all everyday figures, sometimes you feel ashamed just looking at them because they could be you in your past relations. Again Very Straightforward film and if you want something sweet avoid this one, but if you want something that raise something to think about, go for it, watch it, feel ashamed and think over it.

This film is about the quest of love of a young man. It is extremely realistic, especially in the description of a self-cantered central character who seems always a little surprised at what is happening to him.

The film is NOT a romantic comedy. It is not even a comedy, or a drama, or whatever category you usually put movies in. It is a transposition of life, with all its ambiguities, its unaccomplished desires, its eternal quests.

The direction is minimalist but effective. The acting is sublime. If you are not worried to watch a movie which shows things that might be happening to you, go and see it.

'On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate' (the original Korean title is 'Saenghwalui balgyeon'), made in 2002 and released on screens in 2004, is the fourth film by South Korean director Hong Sang-soo and probably the first in which he demonstrated artistic maturity and exposed to viewers many of the characteristics of his talent, which would bring him success in award-winning and acclaimed films in the decades that followed. The title referred to an unhappy love story between an emperor's daughter and an ordinary mortal, and the cinematic narrative chooses two stories that exemplify precisely such unlucky love stories. The difference lies in the source of the failure of these relationships. These are not to be found in irreconcilable class differences, but mainly in the lack of will or power to communicate between the hero of the film, a theater and film actor in a professional and personal crisis caused by the failure of his latest film, and the two young women he meets in two different erotic adventures, which have surprising and mysterious similarities between them. Do those who are lonely owe their situations to fate or is it perhaps their own fault and their inability to express their feelings at the right time?

How significant is the fact that the hero of the film is an actor? When he enters his love relationships, does he play a role? When is he the experienced playboy and when is he the sincere lover? The inability to express his feelings is reminiscent of the lack of communication between the characters in the films that Michelangelo Antonioni made in Italy four decades earlier. Words do not help the heroes, the exchanges of replica seem to be more a way of ensuring that the relationships continue, feelings are expressed through gestures, through the way the heroes eat and drink (they drink a lot!) or make love. In the end, however, silences dominate and the danger of loneliness is constantly looming.

One of Hong Sang-soo's later films tells twice the story of a meeting between a man and a woman. The viewer is left to discover how the differences and changed nuances that a different facial expression or spoken word, or a different angle of filming lead to a change in the perception of the same event. Something similar happens in this film, in which the hero's two love relationships seem to start from very similar premises to end very differently. The viewers are invited to witness two love stories, or perhaps it is a single story that just happens in a different place and time. The camera is skillfully placed and directed, the actors are well chosen and are professionally directed by a film director who was just starting out, but was already a master in filmmaking. To be seen and enjoyed.

I have watched 5 movies of Hong Sang-soo(Woman Is the Future of Man, Tale of Cinema, The Day He Arrives, On the Beach at Night Alone and this). Except from OTBANAlone, which i didn't like, every other film of his, is interesting at least. TDHA is my favorite, up until now. I don't think even this is a great movie though. His movies won't stay with me, there's something missing and of course, comparisons with Antonioni are invalid. Yet, i intend to watch all of his movies, because all of them have something to say.

OTOORT is lacking of dry/subtle humor like some other movies of his. It's more ambitious though. Less complicated, more straightforward. Protagonist is an interesting character but i didn't understand him that much. Those two female characters are not that well written, they seem more like a fantasy than fleshed out characters. Other characters in Sang-soo's other movies are still enigmatic, but they have more depth and one could guess a thing or two.

His movies are getting improved by time. Still, this is a good one. Whereas it looks like a character study, this is more of a meditation. In any case, most arthouse drama movies' fans will find it interesting, at least.

This low key, insightful, and ultimately devastating film quietly observes a callow young man in his search for love. Utterly ill-equipped for the challenge, he bounces from one encounter to another, hoping that he'll find the connection to life that's missing in his life, but instead, he causes pain wherever he goes in his self-absorbed quest. When he finally utters the words "I love you" they are hollow and come immediately after his admission of dishonesty, manipulation and deception.

There's a sad charm to the guy, especially if you identify even a little with his plight, and that takes some of the sting out of the film maker's subtle satire.

I was reminded often of Antonioni who also analyzed the failed searching of young people for love and connection in a culture that left them hopelessly alienated and cut off from each other except for their sexual couplings, which seemed to leave them even more selfish and heartless.

The performances are sublime, especially Sang Mi Chu, who lights up the film the minute she appears.

Not as depressing as I may have made it sound, it has moments of humor, and not a little affection for its characters.