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Post by Fox in the Snow on Nov 8, 2023 20:38:49 GMT
I enjoyed this one a lot too. One of his most personal. Seems like it's turning out to be a fan favorite also. Something about it just clicked with me in a way the others didn't (not to say they were bad as I still enjoyed them, this was just on another level of enjoyment and fascination). Now that October is over and my horror challenge is over, I'm planning on watching a lot more of his films. I ordered a box set that contains Oki’s Movie, Our Sunhi and Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, so will hopefully see them soon.
Great, Oki's Movie is a good one, one of his more overt structural experiments.
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soggy
Sophomore
@soggy
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Post by soggy on Nov 11, 2023 4:35:20 GMT
My plan was to watch Oki's Movie next, instead I watched Grass which is easily the most fascinating of his films I've seen thus far. On the surface level it's a movie about a person watching conversations and listening to their drama unfold. It's also arguably about how one tells stories and resolves them. It's also about trying to connect with others. It's possibly about the passage of time if the first shot and the last shots are to be believed and it is wonderful. 9/10
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Nov 12, 2023 2:02:12 GMT
My plan was to watch Oki's Movie next, instead I watched Grass which is easily the most fascinating of his films I've seen thus far. On the surface level it's a movie about a person watching conversations and listening to their drama unfold. It's also arguably about how one tells stories and resolves them. It's also about trying to connect with others. It's possibly about the passage of time if the first shot and the last shots are to be believed and it is wonderful. 9/10 Four in, they should be starting to click now. This is one of his best IMO. Also 9/10
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soggy
Sophomore
@soggy
Posts: 722
Likes: 1,211
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Post by soggy on Jan 4, 2024 16:59:32 GMT
Watched a different one instead of Oki's Film (Maybe that will be next...)
The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo, 2020)
My 5th film by Hong Sang-Soo. I found this one good, but also possibly his least memorable film. It follows a three-act structure, but in this case each act is her visiting an old friend while her husband is gone on a business trip. These three visits take place mostly as extended conversations. The only real “plot developments” are that each time, at some point, a man (different ones each time) will at some point interrupt their conversation. The interesting aspect is that all the men are filmed with their backs to the camera almost the entire time, as they are literally interrupting what are essentially conversations for women about women’s matters. There is certainly a lot to interpret here, but it didn’t grab me quite as much as some of the director’s other films. 7/10
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Jan 5, 2024 2:57:06 GMT
Watched a different one instead of Oki's Film (Maybe that will be next...) The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo, 2020) My 5th film by Hong Sang-Soo. I found this one good, but also possibly his least memorable film. It follows a three-act structure, but in this case each act is her visiting an old friend while her husband is gone on a business trip. These three visits take place mostly as extended conversations. The only real “plot developments” are that each time, at some point, a man (different ones each time) will at some point interrupt their conversation. The interesting aspect is that all the men are filmed with their backs to the camera almost the entire time, as they are literally interrupting what are essentially conversations for women about women’s matters. There is certainly a lot to interpret here, but it didn’t grab me quite as much as some of the director’s other films. 7/10 That's one of my favorites, don't know exactly why. Just love all the individual scenes and conversations, particularly the one about the stray cats and the scene where she watches the film by herself. That's the thing with Hong, the variations between each film are so subtle, there doesn't seem to be any real consensus ranking. Interesting pick up about the guys always having back to camera, not something I consciously picked up. I've been meaning to give this one another watch, so will look out for it.
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soggy
Sophomore
@soggy
Posts: 722
Likes: 1,211
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Post by soggy on Jan 21, 2024 5:08:41 GMT
Oki's Movie (Hong Sang-soo, 2010) After saying it would be my next Sang-soo movie for like three movies now, I finally watched it! This is nowhere near my favorite Sang-soo film, but I honestly would suggest it as possibly the first someone should watch if they were wanting to explore his filmography. It’s a film divided into four shorts. Together they tell a larger story, but they are not put in chronological order, so one has to consider them all before fully assessing. The reason I would suggest this as a first watch though, is that the final short acts almost as a blueprint for Sang-soo's filmography, showing all his major themes he revisits and flat out analyzing them in a said aloud way. It’s not as interesting as interpreting on your own, but it may be a good introduction to those who haven’t been trying to piece it all together. 7/10
Also, for the fun of it, I'll start ranking his movies:
9/10 Grass
8/10 The Novelist's Film
7/10 Yourself and Yours The Woman Who Ran
Oki's Movie
6/10 Woman Is the Future of Man
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Jan 22, 2024 11:17:47 GMT
Oki's Movie (Hong Sang-soo, 2010) After saying it would be my next Sang-soo movie for like three movies now, I finally watched it! This is nowhere near my favorite Sang-soo film, but I honestly would suggest it as possibly the first someone should watch if they were wanting to explore his filmography. It’s a film divided into four shorts. Together they tell a larger story, but they are not put in chronological order, so one has to consider them all before fully assessing. The reason I would suggest this as a first watch though, is that the final short acts almost as a blueprint for Sang-soo's filmography, showing all his major themes he revisits and flat out analyzing them in a said aloud way. It’s not as interesting as interpreting on your own, but it may be a good introduction to those who haven’t been trying to piece it all together. 7/10
Also, for the fun of it, I'll start ranking his movies: 9/10 Grass 8/10 The Novelist's Film 7/10 Yourself and Yours The Woman Who Ran
Oki's Movie 6/10 Woman Is the Future of Man
Good point, it is a pretty good introduction to his style. Right Now, Wrong Then is another good starting point.
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Feb 28, 2024 12:10:04 GMT
His first for 2024 and third collaboration with Isabelle Huppert 2024: A Traveler's Needs
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Mar 5, 2024 3:17:28 GMT
2011: The Day He ArrivesFinally caught up with this one. One of Hong’s most popular films, but one of the few I’d not yet seen. Right in that mid point of his career when he was really starting to experiment with structure in a lighter more playful way. Very quintessentially Hong. All the tropes are there, a lead character who is an independent filmmaker, a temporally ambiguous narrative, and lots of ZOOMS. His second foray into black & white, it works wonderfully with the chilly setting. Highly recommended, a good entry point 9/10
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Apr 20, 2024 8:18:33 GMT
2008: Night and DayThe last of Hong’s films I’d yet to see save his two most recent. Maybe not a great entry point, but a nice one to see this far into my Hong journey. His longest and perhaps most meandering and episodic. Relatively straightforward and free of any real temporal experimentation. Fearing the minor legal ramifications of smoking marijuana a married 40 something painter jets off to Paris leaving his wife in Seoul and falls in love. While there’s not much to it, I really enjoyed the relaxed meandering pace of this one and it’s great to see Hong using the Parisian streets of his biggest influences. 9/10
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Apr 20, 2024 8:29:09 GMT
Now that I've seen just about everything, an updated/amended rating/ranking92014: Hill of Freedom2018: Grass2016: Yourself and Yours2020: The Woman Who Ran2005: Tale of Cinema2017: Claire's Camera2011: The Day He Arrives2022: Walk Up2008: Night and Day82015: Right Now, Wrong Then2021: Introduction2010: Oki's Movie2000: Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors2017: On the Beach at Night Alone2022: The Novelist's Film2018: Hotel by the River2009: Like You Know it All2017: The Day After2021: In Front of Your Face71998: The Power of the Kangwon Province2010: Hahaha2023: in water2012: In Another Country2013: Our Sunhi2013: Nobody's Daughter Haewon2002: On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate2006: Woman on the Beach62011: List (short film) 1996: The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well2004: Woman Is the Future of Man2009: Lost in the Mountains (episode from Visitors Anthology)
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Apr 21, 2024 8:43:07 GMT
Love how seemingly random and varied ranked lists of his films are. No doubt due to how closely he reworks similar material from film to film. The rankings become almost arbitrary, but very personal
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Post by Fox in the Snow on Apr 28, 2024 6:44:57 GMT
2005: Tale of CinemaRewatch of my favorite of his earlier films. While it maintains the colder feel of thos eearly films, the narrative conceit is more closely aligned to the playful experimentation of his later work. It’s the last of his films to feature the nudity and explicit sex common in his early work and infamously it’s the first of his films to introduce his now trademark zoom. While it feels a little more clumsy and overused here, it’s interesting seeing it now with the familiarity of almost his entire filmography behind me. The first time around, this was only the second of his films I’d seen, so it didn’t really register as anything significant at the time. 9/10
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