Where Life and Art Focus

In the early stages, underwater A glimpse into Hong Sang-soo’s surprisingly free and streamlined working method. Actor Sung-mo (Shin Suk-ho), an aspiring film director, scouts the alleys with cameraman Sang-guk (Ha Sung-guk) and actress Nam-hee (Kim Seung-yoon). Throughout the sequence, Hong shows the audience his subterfuge hiding in plain sight. underwater‘s formal DNA into its very story.

Seungmo wants to see how Alley and Namhee look together in the frame, and the shot he thinks is probably closer to the composition we see as viewers. Bend across to provide the image with a “found” brushstroke reminiscent of an apostrophe. The eye-tickling imagery reveals the physical details of your friend’s beachside neighborhood and provides a map of the group’s dynamics.

Lovers of Hong’s films are sure to be captivated by transcendental minimalist sequences such as: underwater It suggests that Picasso wrote down the sketch on a piece of paper in seconds. But those unfamiliar with it can be left frustrated waiting for the emergence of more traditional narratives that straddle sequences that feel as if little has been done. Hong seems to be pushing his own minimalism to the breaking point here, experimenting with his fault line aesthetic.

underwater is fully involved in the aforementioned location scouts and follows Summo as he tries to craft a story that fits the setting. Often like Hong, he doesn’t work from a traditional script, but rather scours for ingredients that appeal to him, from beachside waves to fish in ponds to women cleaning up debris from rocks. I’m here.

However, unlike Hong, Seungmo has yet to materialize as an artist. The man is unsure, suspecting he is a fraud. And we got to share this suspicion until it was revealed that he was the familiar Hong deputy. The fact that he’s strapped for cash and spends over $3,000 on trips could prove to be simply idyllic, so it could cause a sort of sympathetic unease from the audience.

Like a moth that has yet to emerge from its chrysalis, Summo’s unformed senses are transcribed by Hong in a straightforward formal apparatus. underwater Out of focus. In the close-ups of her three friends in the center, this decision is less noticeable, but in the film’s frequent landscape shots, the characters see the sea and the various buildings and clothing appear in broad strokes of line and bursts of color. It will be scaled down to a blob by providing a frame.

Sometimes it looks like Hong dares to call a bluff. underwater It’s also a movie.maybe he too hope we call him Still, these compositions are hauntingly beautiful. Hong really seems to be able to make a very personal movie out of anything, maybe not Picasso, he’s like stale bread, rotten fruit, a chef who can change the odds and ends of some of the pantry. A filmmaker… A revelatory dessert.

Take a moment as the trio stand on a hill overlooking the water. Sang-guk and Nam-hee are conversing nearby, but the contemplative Seung-mo is distant from them. We see their backs in medium shots, but without any cuts or close-ups, you can feel Summo’s intense solitude. Throughout the film, Sang-guk and Nam-hee pair up, sometimes seemingly flirting towards romance, while Seung-mo is alone. Is Sun-mo really trying to make a movie, or is this trip just a cry for help? Anyone familiar with the Hong Kong language will know that the answer probably entails both explanations at once. .

A moment of emotional sensitivity rich enough to be rated among Hong’s best scenes as a filmmaker when he talks to a woman who collects garbage on the rocks that separate the beach from the tourist area, Seungmo’s project is finally here. Find a shape. Correspondingly, of course, underwater reveal its design. Seoung-mo translates his loneliness and confusion into sympathetic comments on the setting he stakes, much like Hong.

Both Hong and Seung-mo craft scenes that combine the macro-social textures of the town’s thoughtless consumption with micro-social observations of the melancholy of honoring women and the filmmaker’s own appreciation. Although he seems to have found a way to operate as an artist, the final devastating image suggests that such progress alone will not be enough to prevent devastation. It’s as if Hong is saying, “If it’s not for God’s grace, I’ll go there.”