2022 Taipei Film Festival | Short Film Review (Middle) - South Korea

Jul 7, 2022

At this year's Taipei Film Festival, I watched two new films by South Korean directors, namely "The King's Making" by Bian Shengxuan and "Novelist Movie" by Hong Changxiu, both of which were excellent works by me. Byun Seong-hyun is probably one of the most high-profile emerging directors in South Korea at present. Not only did he win the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Director with "Made of Kings", but also South Korea's best actor Xue Geng-gu was awarded Baeksang again for this film. Actor. Hong Changxiu's "Novelist Film" entered the official competition unit of the Berlin International Film Festival for three consecutive years after "Before You" and "Introduction", and finally won the Silver Bear Award of the Jury Prize.

"Made of Kings"｜"Novelist Movie" movie poster

Made by the King

Byun Seong-hyun｜South Korea｜2022

Recommended Score: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

Image source: Stills from "Made of Kings"

"Made of Kings" is a remake based on important political moments in South Korea's recent history. In 1963, after Park Chung-hee was elected as the president of South Korea, the "third republic" in the political history of South Korea was launched; until 1971, although Park Chung-hee insisted on leading the revision of the constitution, which attracted fierce opposition from college students, he still narrowly defeated Kim Dae-jung and successfully won the third presidential re-election. . It was not until 1997 that Kim Dae-jung finally survived the years of political persecution during the military and political dictatorships of Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan, and was elected president, completing the first democratic and peaceful regime transfer in South Korea's history. The protagonist Jin Yunfan (played by Xue Gengqiu) in "Made of Kings" is based on Jin Daejung and tells about his difficult political career.

The film focuses on depicting Kim Won-bum and his shadow trader Seo Chang-dae (played by Lee Sun-kyun), how the two cooperate with each other and step by step toward the process of competing for the presidency. Not only the narrative rhythm is lively and smooth, but also the management of the camera picture should not be sloppy. In one scene, when Jin Yunfan and Xu Changda were sitting on the bench to talk, they were both sitting back, but as the conversation continued, Jin Yunfan leaned forward, and his body just happened to be shining from the window. The incoming sunlight was blocked, causing Xu Changda, who was originally bright, to disappear into darkness. It is Xu Changda's "shadow" as Jin Yunfan, a beautiful metaphor for not seeing the light.

In addition, there is a "neighbor stealing eggs" incident at the beginning of the film, which runs through the whole film. "I have raised a few chickens, and the biggest pleasure of every day is to use their eggs to make omelettes to eat, but the chickens have not laid eggs for several days. I found out that the neighbor stole the eggs, but he did not admit that he stole the eggs. It’s his cousin, and the villagers say that I framed a good person, what should I do?” This was originally the trouble when Xu Changda was still working as a pharmacist and the villagers came to him for help. The story was told to Jin Yunfan.

Jin Yunfan told Xu Changda that he would give the new-born eggs as gifts to the neighbor who stole the eggs. Xu Changda asked again, "What if the other party has no conscience?" Jin Yunfan replied, "I will go to you to find a way." I remember when Xu Changda first met Jin Yunfan, Jin Yunfan once quoted Aristotle's words: "Justice It is the order of society." Xu Changda responded with the words of Aristotle's teacher Plato: "For a legitimate purpose, you can do whatever you want." The film uses a lot of allegories and symbols, all of which are intended to show the relationship between Jin Yunfan and Xu Changda. The complementary relationship between light and dark is impressive.

novelist film

Hong Sang-soo｜South Korea｜2022

Recommended Score: 🌕🌕🌕🌕

"Novelist Movie" is the 27th feature film of South Korean director Hong Sang-soo who has participated in the Berlin International Film Festival for three consecutive years. Hong Changxiu once again invited Muse actor Kim Min-hee, Lee Hye-young from "Before You" and Qi Zhoufeng from "Riverside Hotel" to play together on the same stage. "Novelist Film" is presented in black and white images, telling the story of a female novelist who wants to make a film. Simple scenes, lots of dialogue, smoking and drinking, viewers usually have to find the context of the narrative in Hong Changxiu's broken lens language. His films don't even have a plot, only the natural way of life. Like the female novelist in the film, the story is not necessary, but the characters must be real.

Hong Changxiu said: "I don't think absolute nature exists, and I have no intention of pursuing it. My directing style is just relatively natural." Of course, Hong Changxiu's video style is very dependent on the frequency of individuals, but the frequency is not right. On the other hand, Hong Changxiu's idle and unconscious daily narrative can easily become a boring, easy-to-sleep movie. But Hong Changxiu can always match my frequency, and I think his casualness in the camera lens and his way of establishing character relationships and explaining meanings by relying on words are my favorite presentation methods.

The best part of the film, like "Introduction", is a conversation after drinking. In "Introduction", the theater seniors and young actors discussed: "Can fake plays be done? Can kisses and hugs without emotion be believed?" Through the dialectics of the actors' performances, the discussion of emotion and love is brought out. "Novelist Movie" was replaced by a verbal confrontation between a male poet and a female novelist. They discussed "Should the creation follow the natural development, or should it follow a clear plot arrangement?" Through thinking about the concept of creation, Hong Changxiu It also further reflects on the nature of video creation and how it should be.

"Novelist Movie" is by no means Hong Chang-soo's best work (my favorite is "The Runaway Woman"), but it is a movie worth seeing (even more than a few times). Although the whole film just keeps wandering between bookstores, parks, canteens and movie theaters, the objects and topics for dialogue with the female novelist are very rich. If you can watch it together with "Introduction", you will definitely be able to better understand the potential meaning implied in Hong Changxiu's images.