Language: Korean
Director: Hong Sangsoo
Right Now, Wrong Then, from the IFFK Panorama is a delightful concept. A day twice lived could be a song sung better. Or is it? The film shows the same sequence of events twice, only with slight changes in the placement of content and behavioural patterns, and we’re left smiling at the outcome of this unlikely experiment that shows us both the sides of that metaphorical coin.
Version 1. Sawon, Korea. Ham Chunsu is a young movie director from Seoul, well-known for his works. He’s in the city to give a lecture after the screening of his movie. He meets Huijeong, an artist, and compels her to have coffee with him. They talk about her previous career, about being sensitive and having not watched his films at all. They go to her workshop to see her paintings. He is polite and flattering. They go for drinks and sushi. They make small talk. Their next pit stop is the cafe of Huijeong’s friend. While they are there, the pleasantries turn more intrusive since they have heard of the director. Ham Chunsu being married and rumours of his many relationships with women affects Huijeong and they part ways there.
Version 2. Sawon, Korea. Again. The director plays up the same scenes, only the camera angles are different. The details are slightly altered, mannerisms similar, but the method of expressions change; Ham Chunsu comes across as more candid, and doesn’t flatter the girl. Their coffee table conversation differs in tone, content and texture. The workshop visit paves the way for a tiff between them. At Huijeon’s friend’s place, embarrassing events take place. But the outcome is entirely different!
The film breaks barriers in linear filmmaking, but isn’t complex in its narrative level. One wonders if the director was writing about the same characters in different situations, (on the lines of situations create people and not vice versa) or he rewrote them for version 2. Either way, it’s an interesting transit from wrong to right.
Star factors
» Novelty in concept presiding over structural flow
» Picturesque Sawon
» The lead pairs, Jung Jae Young and Kim Min-hee, who have effortlessly redrawn the fine lines of their characters.
» The director has experimented with not just filmmaking, but characteristics as well.
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