I had a certain degree of curiosity about the director Hong Sang Soo around 11 years ago. At that time, the actress he loved was still Zheng Youmei, who had a rather pollution-free temperament. But he soon grew tired of his chatter about the wine table and his indulgent and cunning relationships. At that time, my aesthetics for Han Ying was quite "Zhongwu Road", and I was keen to watch the ordinary but fierce old uncles struggling in the whirlpool of fate, throwing their fists and failing.
Hong Sang-soo is the outlier among them, and from my point of view, the less likable kind.
Not so with Kim Min-hee. I saw her performance for the first time in a low-budget movie "Break Up", and I fell in love with her right away.
This is a disheartened story of the powerlessness in love. At first glance, the heroine played by Kim Min-hee was unremarkable, but the performance at that time was already full of personality and details. At the end, I completely unconsciously felt that even if I didn't apply makeup, my face still couldn't be dimmed.
In 2016, Kim Min-hee entered Cannes with "Miss". The play received a lot of attention at the time, but it also received mixed reviews. In terms of awards, it is a failure. After the awards ceremony, I only remembered her innocent, but sexy face like a trap on the poster.
Kim Min-hee, who returned to China, did not have a chance to remain silent. Her unconscionable relationship with Hong Sang-soo soon broke out and became the most high-profile scandal in the Korean entertainment industry in 2016. This TOP actress, who was born into a family, has outstanding acting skills, and is known as a male god reaper, fell into a trough overnight.
However, the twists and turns took less than three or four months of production cycle. Hong Shangxiu made this "On the Beach Alone at Night", and Jin Minxi successively included the two queens of Baeksang and Qinglong in the bag. Afterwards, he fought in Berlin and pointed at the silver bear, and he was still without any disadvantage. I followed it all the way, and Kim Min-hee's acceptance speech was:
"Thank you to director Hong Sang-soo for creating such a beautiful film, director, respect you, love you."
I was dumbfounded, and my mood was so complicated that I was confused: Arrogant! Wanton! The three best actresses! In my heart, Park Zanyu, who is second to none, is something that a meticulously crafted lady in fine brushwork may not be able to achieve. I don't think it's a matter of competency and skill, but I deeply feel that the creations inspired by erotic desire are really powerful. You can almost hear its voice flowing through the veins of the work. This is a chance and a fact.
The film is divided into three parts: "plot", "reality" and "dream". That staggered timeline and situational transition is the director's skillful technique. He used a lot of quiet, broken, and seemingly useless shots to fully showcase Kim Min-hee's delicate, fragile, and slightly neurotic beauty, while making her performance unframed but infectious.
From my point of view, his most tense clips are two well-known wine table scenes. Hong Sang-soo also left these two important scenes to the heroine and himself to discuss.
In the first scene, the heroine accuses in front of seniors, friends, former lovers and the current lover of lovers who are not qualified to be loved by betraying their lives and not wanting to love.
The outburst came suddenly and came to an abrupt end. It seemed like nothing happened after that. But Jin Minxi's clear and slightly disdainful eyes are the real drama in this accusation.
In the second scene, Hong Sangxiu personally went into battle to confess the cause and effect of this relationship. Lots of foreplay and long foreplay. He laughed at himself helplessly:
"It hurts so much! I can't help but regret it all the time, but after doing it too much, I feel sweet, so I don't want to look back."
This kind of confession is difficult to arouse empathy and goodwill, and only such a capricious creator dares to blurt it out while drinking.
Many of the leading film critics are persuading the audience not to regard this play as an intertext between reality and the film, but to feel the film itself with a little calmness and detachment.
I don't quite agree. I think this is a direct response from Hong Sang-soo. The gentleman who declared, "I chose to die without regrets this time, instead of fearing love." He just made a "follow-up of the actress and the director".
The moral judgment of the crowd of onlookers has come first, and now it's his turn. He is willing to make the audience have associations, perhaps to some extent, he hopes that the audience will have associations. Raise your nerves and throw a punch.
This monologue in the movie is his last voice. As for whether it is provocation or frankness behind it. The audience has no way of guessing, and the creators probably won't be entangled.
I believe that at least for a long time, "On the Beach Alone at Night" will be a work that needs to be explained in the background every time it is mentioned. No way, its honor condenses too much love. It is achieved with talent, and it is inevitably explained by morality.
And whether Hong Sangxiu and Kim Minxi's "fight back" hit the mark this time, it's probably not an important matter for moviegoers to appreciate the meaning of it.
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