This article from Cinema Scope helped us sort out Hong Sang-soo's creative style, especially the Q&A interview that followed was interesting. By the way, Hong Sang-soo also took a philosophy class with reporters (the picture he drew was simply...). From the article, we can get a glimpse of the creative secrets of this director who is deeply loved by young literary and artistic young people. From then on, fans and friends can count the eccentricities of Hong's filming (really weird...). For example: How does Hong Sang-soo write the script, choose the actors, choose the scene, how to rehearse with the actors, use a few cameras, like those artists. And answer why Hong Sangxiu's film is the director, why there are so many scenes of drinking soju, and the origin of Hong's filming. And about why Yin Xijing's previous job was a model in "Right Now"? Which movie did Yin Xijing watch at the end of the movie?
The following text is translated from Cinema Scope Magazine Issue 64 (Fall 2015) ▽
Repetition and Difference: Hong Sang-soo's self-evaluation of "Right Now and Wrong Now"
| Interview by Roger Koza | Translated by
Francisco Ferreira & Julien Gester | Paradox
Hong Sang-soo's "Right Now, Wrong Then" won the Golden Leopard Award and was filmed in Suwon (about 30 kilometers south of Seoul). This masterwork is made up of two nearly identical parts, and even at the hour the film restarts, the title sequence is repeated once. Attentive viewers will notice a subtle but obvious difference: The first time the title of the film appears, it says "Right Then Wrong", and the second time it's reversed to read "Right Then Wrong". The two parts of the film are the same two protagonists and several supporting characters, and the story takes place in the same location: a monastery, a bar, a restaurant, a university hall, an alley and a street. The theme remains Hong Sang-soo: the desires expressed in everyday verbal and non-verbal communication between men and women of a particular social class. The same conclusion: communication between men and women is often well-intentioned, but ultimately ends in disappointment (if not outright failure), and therefore contains potential humor and bitterness.
The plot of "Right Now, Wrong Then" consists of the most simplified scenarios, from which a delayed and a series of changing simple scenes are established. Hong Sang-soo's narrative style is to delay the initial premise, while other directors usually develop the premise immediately in the hope of achieving a satisfactory outcome. The sketch stories constructed by Hong Sangxiu often begin but do not end completely. When the protagonist walks out of the camera, the movie may end, but the ending still retains all possibilities. "Right Now, Wrong Then" tells the story of a film director (yes!) named Ham Chun-soo (played by Jung Jae-young) who goes to Suwon to participate in a film festival, which includes screenings and exchange events of his latest works. Arriving at Suwon a day earlier because of the wrong time, Ham Chun-soo has time to visit a temple, and in a palace for worship, he encounters Yoon Hee-jung (Kim Min-hee), a beautiful and peaceful girl who hopes to become a painter. After chatting in the temple, they went to the cafe together, went to the studio, then they ate and drank together, and then went to Yin Xijing's friends party, and finally Xian Chunzhu sent Yin Xijing home (Yin Xijing lived with her mother). The next day, after the movie screening, at the post-screening exchange meeting, the exchange between Ham Chun-soo and the host was full of gunpowder. The above is the whole story.
The narrative strength of Hong's films is based on delaying and stretching time, reinforcing the character's behavioral characteristics through delayed action and revising it by dialogue between characters. We find that all Hung's works are the same copy, the same grammatical pattern. An hour in "Right Then Wrong" was re-enacted, like a movie remake in a movie. The reappearance of movie scenes in the same order, creating differences in repetition, is so common in Hong's films that we can't explain why and it's largely accidental. The emotional development of the characters and, in some cases, the plot development, add up, and small changes will lead to big changes. Uncertainty of any relationship or state is a prerequisite for repeating and duplicating the game. For example, in the first part of the film, in Yoon Hee-kyung's studio, she behaves insecurely, and in response, Hyun-chun-soo compliments her paintings, which is detailed in the film (these compliments later put him in an embarrassing position) . In the second part, for whatever reason, Yin Xijing was more confident, and Xian Chunzhu critically commented on the painting, which did not appear in the film in this part. The fine-tuning of Yin Xijing's attitude leads the same characters and the same plot to different endings, thus illustrating the dependence of Hong's structure and plot on chance.
The main punch of the seemingly effortless Hong's comedy comes from the verbal, verbal tangle, based on the slight but perceptible separation of what the characters say and do. Like many of Hong Sang-soo's other films, the "institution" of "Right Then Wrong" may be "triggered" by the pronunciation of a word, which is "sensitive". The particular pronunciation of a word in a conversation may refer to something else without explicitly stating it, which may lead to misunderstandings. This is often caused by a character describing another character, and the unknown character of the character can be found through observation, thereby triggering subconscious pleasure. Near the end of the first part of "Right Now, Wrong Then", Yin Xijing's friend realized that Xian Chunzhu's evaluation of her paintings is basically the same as Xian Chunzhu's evaluation of his own works in an interview ( She doesn't know what this will lead to, so she wants to explore more, although the process is not smooth). This is an obvious "institution": he sees himself in her.
It is worth mentioning that Zheng Zaiyong, who won the Locarno Actor, performed exceptionally. One of the hallmarks of Hong's films is his actor's true performance, but Jung Jae-yong's meticulous performance (especially in the sushi bar scene, where he shows love and proposes while drunk, mixes shy and happy, because he drinks too much) And face warp) is impressive because Hong Sang-soo likes to take long takes, and there are generally no close-ups that give actors the opportunity to convey feelings and deep emotions with their facial expressions. In Hong's typical frame, the only opportunity for an actor to express his inner drama is when the camera is close, and the back and forth of the shot often matches the mood changes in the dialogue (sometimes for transitional scenes). "Right Now, Wrong Now" has a total of 32 push mirrors, all of which are used at the inflection point of the logic of the dialogue or where the dialogue provokes emotional changes. In the cafe scene in the first part, Yin Xijing found out that the director she fell in love with had a family. When she figured out the situation, the camera slowly moved towards Yin Xijing, placing her in the center of the frame, emphasizing her emotional changes.
Critics may argue that Hong Sang-soo is merely repeating himself, but there is no denying that he has become an expert at turning repetition into cinematic and anthropological structures. His films lift weights and reach extraordinary depth. Repetition in general is a delicate and difficult task, because sooner or later what appears to be the same will develop into the unexpected, and only a patient director can capture and control these non-fixed changes. By duplicating his own film in the same film, Hong Sang-soo achieves the true meaning of his theme, the key is not the text, but the flaws between the typical characters (the film is an arrogant director and a struggling young artist) Communication, especially the game of unbroken dialogue played in the process of building sexual attraction. The secret is to use the typical but above the typical, so as to peek into the matrix.
In the two hours of "Right Then Wrong", elegant scenery or stylistic embellishment is absent, but it does not lose its beauty. In the last shot, Yin Xijing left the cinema and walked on the street covered with snow, which is undoubtedly showing the beauty of this world. The same is true for the unassuming insertion of the Buddha statue near Yin Xijing's house at the beginning. Such beautiful shots run through the entire film, embellishing, but not revealing (a careful audience can find it), and as a whole, the audience who receives it will have a surprising visual experience. It's not a bad thing to live in the "Right Then Wrong" set. It's a peaceful and beautiful movie, and it's a rare movie.
—Roger Koza
Q & A
Cinema Scope: We saw from the festival listing that you had the title of your film "Right Then Wrong", but before we learned that the film had two parts, the title title read " It was right then and it was wrong", one would think you changed the title of the movie at the last minute before the world premiere. This leads us to what is not uncommon in your films, this one is even more pronounced, that sense of deja vu, unaware in real life, but constructed and reproduced in the film.
Hong Sang-soo: It can be said that it is like this. I don't think déjà vu is my formal structure, and... well, in the second part, the director didn't know the girl he met and couldn't say she reminded him of someone or something from the past. But the audience already knew him and her at the beginning of the second part. When I directed Zheng Zaiying, he acted as if he had a strange and intimate connection with her, a strong sense of identification, feeling that he knew her, but had no way of explaining why. If you understand it this way, it makes sense to talk about deja vu.
Scope: You said in the press conference that after you shoot the first part, you finish the editing and then show it to the actors, so the actors know the plot structure, but they don't know their characters in the second part. Perhaps because of this, it could be said that there was some sort of moral uplift in the second part, and their relationship improved. But maybe it's that déjà vu that's keeping everything from going perfect the second time over, because it's a bad feeling.
Hong: Comparing the two parts, if I can call them "parts", some elements are connected so well that the audience feels like they can explain the changes in morality and attitude of the two parts. But some elements are not like this, the two worlds are very independent. It would be nice if someone could explain the relationship between these two parts. But this will end everything... you know what I mean? This makes sense, but it still feels like the two parts are very independent. Not preaching, let me draw a picture to explain...
The two circles in the figure represent two separate worlds. If you believe that these two worlds exist at the same time, once you find the connection between them, the two worlds will disappear. Once we figure out the relationship between these two worlds, they come to an end. Fortunately, figuring out how they are related is not easy. If the world has infinite possibilities, all questions will be alive, like eternal echoes.
Scope: Even though the two parts are parallel worlds, the sequence of the films is important, the second part follows the first part. If you're shooting a video for an art gallery, you can show two parts on two screens at the same time, and things can go in parallel.
Hung: Even showing like that, you always have to look at one part before the other. Time frames cannot be avoided. It is important to think about the course of things over time.
Scope: You haven't made a movie in Suwon before.
Hong: Yes, this is the first time.
Scope: Is there anything special about that city? How did you feel about filming there?
Hong: Now I start making movies with almost no preparation, I mean, there are still two things to prepare: the location and the actors. I don't know anything about Suwon at all, maybe I read about it a long time ago that gave me my first impression of this place. Suwon is a cold city, I went there one day, met some people, walked around, and decided to shoot here. For example, I found the sushi restaurant in the movie by accident, the owner is a very nice person, and I said to him, "I'm Hong Sang-soo, I'm a film director, and I'm going to shoot three three-dimensional movies with my small film team. Week time. The way I work is weird, so I don't know the exact time, can you allow me to shoot? Maybe I'll be back two or three times, but I'll let you know as soon as I know the trip." He said, "Ok , but not on weekends." That way, I made a deal with these places, but I didn't know what I was going to do there at the time, I just picked them intuitively.
Scope: When you meet an actor you're working with, does first impression matter?
Hong: Maybe this is my bias, I believe that the first impression of meeting the actor determines the beginning of everything. What interests me is the most important, this is the core: I treat them as ordinary people, and I don't judge the works they are involved in as actors. I often don't know what movies they've been in before. Based on this impression, sometimes I can remember something that happened to me a long time ago, some situation, some predicament or lost memory.
Scope: How was this collaboration with Kim Min-hee? You have never worked together before.
Hong: Very simple: I asked her if she could work with me during this time. Then I had two main characters and some filming locations. It was still two months away from the plane, and some ideas were starting to emerge, but not fully settled. Three or four days before shooting, I made some important decisions. For example, I would shoot a scene in front of the palace, where the two characters would meet. So I contacted the palace managers and told them we were going to shoot here. I started writing the script for that day very early on the first day, either in the office or directly on the set. I usually start writing scripts at 5 or 6 in the morning, and I write for three hours, sometimes five hours.
Scope: When did you start working this way, without a full script?
Hong: I was like everyone else when I made the first three or four films. Later I started rejecting the script, but there was a 20 or so page overview of the whole story, which I used to call "treatment". Even so, it's gotten more and more condensed over the years, and when I did Oak Hee's Movie (2010), it became more casual, with just a few remarks, "treatment" gone.
Scope: Do you write better under pressure?
Hong: I kind of enjoy that, yes.
Scope: I'm interested in your films "flirting" with reality and your life and experiences. To give two examples: I didn't know Kim Min Hee when I googled her, the first message I read was that she was a model before she became an actress, and her character Yoon Hee Jung in the movie cites that fact. At the end of the second part, she's watching Ham Chun-soo's latest movie in the cinema, and you say at the press conference that we're hearing from your last work, "Freedom Hill" (2014). Your movies may not be based on real people in your life, but there is always a transformation.
Hong: Of course, it is necessary. What's important to you may also be important to your movie...
Imagine that this rectangle is real life. I want to get as close to it as possible. what to do? Use details of my life, things I've experienced, things I've heard from people I know or just met. I always mix different sources of information, it's never about myself, but it looks like something happened, or it looks like it's a story about me, and I like the effect. I realized this when I was 23 when I was writing a script based on a true story. I was so nervous, I couldn't move, I needed distance. In the same way, my film is not a parallel existence to real life, what I want to do is to follow the arrow from the string to real life and stop it at the last moment.
Scope: You said just now that you don't care what the actors have done before working with you, but you still almost always use professional actors, which shows that you value and trust their acting skills and abilities.
Hong: I have worked with completely amateur actors before, "The Power of Gangwon-do" is that. They are talented and show their true character, but they lack thickness and are weak. For example, the lines I write look natural, but they are actually processed, so they require precision, and amateur actors cannot adapt to this. That's why I work with professional actors: they can be precise and do what I want them to do. But I didn't see them as actors when I first met them.
Scope: Have you ever fired an actor?
Hong: I almost did this once, and I wanted to fire an actor. He has a lot of stupid ideas. I called him and he came to my apartment and we had a conversation on the playground at night...he agreed to change things.
Scope: Yesterday you said that you always think of the same characters and the same scenes because you are the same person. But now that you've been making movies for 20 years, you're not the same you anymore. Like in your movie, when the story repeats, what stays the same is change.
Hong: Yes, for example, I don't feel the same about my mother now as I did 20 years ago. But I can use the same elements to show the changes I've experienced. Sometimes I have completely new elements, but I don't look for new elements in every film, I don't feel like I need them, it's important how I handle the same elements. Few of the dilemmas and problems in life that interest me have changed. The main character of my films is the director, who can be of different professions, but I know very well what a film director is like, so it's easier for me this way.
Scope: You're constantly looking for new faces, new actors, but you're loyal to the technical team, especially your cameraman Park Hongyeol. Is it important to you to maintain family-like relationships?
Hong: Well, making movies is one of the most important things in my life. When I make a movie I want me to be happy and surrounded by good people, they don't need to be very technical or famous, and it's important to me that they're not assholes.
Scope: Is it always you who decides the camera position?
Hong: I decide the seat!
Scope: Only one camera?
Hong: There is only one. I decide the camera angle, and the angle can tell a lot, as can the camera movement.
Scope: For example, in the first part we can see her (Yoon Hee Jung) canvas, but in the second part we can't...
Hong: Two shots from different perspectives. When I first met a photographer, I would tell him to accept me to decide the camera angle, and that was the first question.
Scope: Do you have time to rehearse with the cast?
Hong: When the actors read my script in the morning they started to memorize the first scene. I show them the script for about 30 minutes, then I meet them and they read the lines. It's a precious moment, and I'm enjoying it. Then I modified a little bit, not too much, it took about 30 minutes, and then I started shooting. Then we move on to the next scene of the day, and we repeat the process while changing locations and sets.
Scope: You take very few shots?
Hong: Usually less than 10, sometimes 15, in rare cases I can take 30. But usually seven or eight.
Scope: Why are you drinking in so many scenes in your films?
Hong: Because I like to drink, it's an important aspect of my life. Why should I avoid situations I am so familiar with? I have no hobbies, a lot of people like fishing and traveling and so on, I don't.
Scope: Have you considered doing a movie with an actor who doesn't drink alcohol?
Hong: I did it! I respect the taste of each of them. Some people can't drink, their face turns red, and then I give them fake soju. For me, it's nice to sit down and have a soju followed by a coffee.
Scope: You're always being compared to similar directors, like Eric Rohmer. Are there other artists that have influenced you less obviously?
Hong: I don't know who to say, but they are almost all writers and novelists. Hemingway was important to me, as were Chekov and Dostoevsky. But the artist I admire most is Cezanne, and when I noticed his paintings in graduate school, I thought they were so perfect that I didn't need anything else. I felt a sense of intimacy, which moved me. I feel like I'm in front of perfection.
Scope: I'm hesitant to bring it up, but you're always asked at press conferences about your use of the camera, and there are different ways you use the camera in this film, sometimes bringing in characters outside the frame...
Hung: I can't explain to you why I'm using the push mirror, I really can't. I started using them in the sixth film, and I just felt one day that I could get closer to the actors without editing. Using them, I found it was very easy to create a special continuous rhythm. I've kept doing it since, I didn't think it would become my signature.
Scope: Was this an accident?
Hong: All the important things in my life are accidents! Becoming a director was one of those things, the people I met, the women I fell in love with... I was 20 with nothing to do, I didn't even prepare for college exams, and then I met a playwright who was drunk and I sat next to him , and then he asked me: "Shangxiu, what are you doing?" "Nothing." I replied. "Well, you can be a good theater director." Then I started thinking about that and went to college to study theater. But drama academy sucks and I don't like drama teachings. Then I looked out the window, and the building next to it was the Film Academy, and two or three guys were shooting with cameras. So I transferred to film school.
Scope: It was also an accident that you met your wife?
Hong: Yes! She happened to pass by when I came out of the university library and I liked her face and she was very friendly. I mustered up the courage to ask for her number. I picked her up in the morning and we went to the beach near her house and asked her if she would like to be my girlfriend. Two or three months later I proposed to her.
Scope: Will you be in your own film? Or are you too shy?
Hong: I would be shy, but not too shy. But I know I'm going to be a bad actor, so I guess that's never going to happen. Or at least it's beyond my scope.
—Francisco Ferreira & Julien Gester
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Original: Qiyu Movie: Hong Shangxiu can't explain "Right Now, Wrong Then", so I have to draw it for you to see
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