First word on Tale of Cinema

Though in competition at Cannes, there has been surprisingly little written (so far) about Hong Sang-soo’s latest, Tale of Cinema. Variety doesn't have it listed in their table of reviews, ScreenDaily hasn't covered it, nor has there been a peep from Manohla Dargis, who is a big Hong supporter. (Filmbrain expected at least a brief mention in the blog Cannes Journal she and A.O. Scott are contributing to.) The only complete reviews Filmbrain has found are in French, but both seem to be fairly positive. The first one is from Le Monde, and it includes a quote from Hong that is a wonderful summary of why Filmbrain loves his films so: "Ce qui m'intéresse, dit-il, c'est d'entremêler des éléments abstraits (une situation de départ plus ou moins banale) et des éléments subjectifs, qui rejoignent le monde de l'émotion, du sentiment, du désir. Je déteste l'issue prévisible, formatée, la conclusion convenue. La plupart des cinéastes vous amènent en fin de film à des chutes que l'on a vues mille fois. Ce type de scénario me révolte. Je cherche l'inattendu, l'effet de surprise." Filmbrain's loose (and most likely bad) translation: "What interests me is to mix abstract elements (beginning with a more or less banal situation) with subjective elements which then join the world of emotion, feelings, and desire. I hate the foreseeable, formatted (?), or foregone conclusion. Most filmmakers give you an ending that you've seen a thousand times. This type of scenario revolts me. I'm looking for the unexpected, the element of surprise." The other review comes from Télérama, which seems to imply that only fans of Hong will really appreciate the film (but Filmbrain could be misreading that.) Mike D'Angelo, over at Nerve, doesn't turn in an official review, but suggests that he would personally give Hong the best screenplay award. True to its title, it's a study in the way we construct narratives from our own lives, as well as the influence movies have on our behavior -- but most of this is apparent only in retrospect. More interesting to think about afterwards than to watch, it's not the breakthrough that some had hoped for from this director -- arguably the greatest filmmaker who's never had his work distributed in the U.S. (though his previous film, the comparatively weak Woman Is the Future of Man, is apparently coming out later this year). But it's an intelligent, provocative and rather unsettling work all the same. Perhaps as the day goes on more reviews will be published, but at the moment it's seems to be lost amidst the sea of Wenders, Jarmusch, Cronenberg, etc. UPDATE: Der Spiegel magazine has a brief mention of the film in their Cannes-Tagebuch, but it's far from positive. Here's a rough translation [does contain slight spoilers!]: If there was a wooden Palme for the worst film of the festival, Amos Gitai could share this trophy with the Hong Sangsoo who, with his drama Tale of Cinema follows the footsteps of the French Nouvelle Vague so clumsily that the viewer is left with only complete confusion. Like in Free Zone, the idea is basically a good one: Hong begins with a young couple planning to commit suicide together. Later we find out that this is only the story of a student short film whose plot now repeats itself in the reality of the young filmmaker. The message is roughly: Cinema determines life, and life determines cinema. Sounds complicated? But quite the opposite is true, and the film's reliance on static pictures while completely neglecting any dynamic results in a film that is more than simple (easy) from an aesthetic point of view.

Comments

[phyrephox]

It's a damn shame, first the underappreciate of Woman is the Future of Man at last year's festival, and now the lack of coverage of Hong's newest at this one.

[Rashomon]

Thanks for this. I'm a fan of this director and am curious too why he gets little coverage.

[Jay Blanchard]

It's a shame, but not surprising. Hou's new film was passed over at Cannes as well, not just for awards but for press coverage. I'm not saying the Dardennes bros. film didn't deserve the Palm, but it seemed like a very Eurocentric festival this year.

I haven't seen "Woman Is the Future of Man" yet, but I've seen "Turning Gate" and "The Day a Pig..." and I enjoyed both greatly.

[Jonathan Takagi]

There are also negative reviews in French. From Libération:

http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=298026

[Filmbrain]

You're right -- that isn't a good review at all.

However, I find it interesting that his criticism of the use of zooms is simply that they are not à la mode. Plus, unlike the critic, I would never describe Seoul as being a city of "ugly commercialism".

[Filmbrain]

Arte has a somewhat better review, and l'Humanité has an interesting interview with Hong.