Hong Sang soo recommendations, please
Don’t have time for the why now but don’t miss A Virgin Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors and Turning Gate. Of his later films, Night and Day is the best, I’d say.
Night and Day
The Power of Kangwon Province
Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors
Woman Is the Future of Man
Woman on the Beach
I consider Hong Sang-soo to be an absolutely brilliant director and many of his films are amongst my favourites. In my opinion, it’s rather hard to separate his works as they are all largely similar in style and each address issues that stem from similar concerns. But anyhow, for the sake of your wallet, I would very strongly recommend these five films over the others, although the quality of his work is very consistent:
(his pet theme is ‘the dynamics of human interaction’ so expect them to be in all his films)
1. Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors
Incisive exploration of memory, time and human nature.
2. Tale of Cinema
A rare treat: a meta-film that isn’t terrible that never allows its self-consciousness to detract from its unflinching portrait of people
3. Woman on the Beach
A more light-hearted take on umm the dynamics of human interaction.
4. The Power of Kangwon Province
A fascinating experiment with form.
5. Lost in the Mountains
Short and hilarious.
Have not seen Night and Day and Ha Ha Ha.
Watch everything if you can, even if you are a little hard pressed. You won’t regret it. And I completely agree with Law that it is hard to separate his works. Hong is a consummate master!
Haven’t seen his later works, but I enjoyed his “A Day a Pig Fell into the Well”, “Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors” and “Turning Gate” very much!
Oki’s Movie (Ok-hui-ui yeonghwa) is the eleventh full-length film directed by Hong Sang-soo. The story, which renews Hong’s obsession with complex narrative plots, is divided into four chapters, A Day for Chanting (Jumuneul oeul nal), King of Kiss (Kiseu wang), After the Snowstorm (Pokseol hu) and Oki’s Movie (Ok-hui-ui yeonghwa).
A young filmmaker, his old professor of cinema, and the beautiful Oki, caught between the two men, are the protagonists of this story developing between present and past, reality and cinematic fiction. Played by Lee Sun-kyun (Jin-gu), Jung Yu-mi (Ok-hui) and Moon Sung-keun (Prof. Song), the film is written and directed by Hong Sang-soo and will premiere in the upcoming Venice International Film Festival.
Power of Kangwon Province is great.
Check out Blue’s excellent Hong Sang-soo CINEMA 21 thread.
Great, many thanks for the recommendations and info. I think I’m going to find it pretty hard to choose, and maybe five will have to expand to six or seven. At the moment my list is Turning Gate, Woman on the Beach, Tale of Cinema, Woman is the future of Man, and Ha Ha Ha (mainly for Moon So Ri) – maybe this will change tomorrow!
M Klein
My local cinema is playing a season of Hong Sang Soo’s entire filmography (well, up to Ha Ha Ha. Apparently he’s just released another one). I’ve never seen anything by him and wondered what people would recommend, and why. Lists of top five recommendations welcome. (I won’t get to see all of them, time/money just won’t permit.)