Cannes Preview: Woman is the Future of Man

Filmbrain has mentioned this more than once, but he considers Hong Sang-soo to be one of the greatest directors working today. Each of his four features has been somewhat of a masterpiece, and tracing his development from his first feature (The Day a Pig Fell Into a Well) to his last (On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate) it is clear that he has become master of the "complicated psycho-sexual dynamics in male-female relationships" genre. His films are not romantic comedies, nor melodramas, but rather brutally honest portrayals of sex and desire, and the way men use these as replacements for things lacking in their own lives. The men in his films are not monsters, nor are the women portrayed as victims. The power of his films comes from how very real (read: flawed) his characters are. Filmbrain plans to write reviews of all four films sometime in the near future. On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate is Filmbrain's favorite film of the decade (so far) and he wonders if Hong will be able to top that with his latest film, Woman is the Future of Man, which is in competition at Cannes this year. The film appears to once again deal with the theme of complex relationships -- this time, two men decide to look for an old girlfriend that both had dated. That's all Filmbrain needs to know -- he is excited beyond words. There is a wonderfully designed official website, which includes two very interesting looking trailers. (The site is in Korean, but the trailers can be found by first entering the site from the main page, then clicking the second item in the menu bar, and then selecting Multimedia.) There are also pictures from the film, posters that can be dowloaded, and two games that Filmbrain finds a bit confusing -- something about picking the right women in the bar to talk to before your buddy gets back from the men's room. Go figure. Link: Woman is the Future of Man official site