The first time I watched "Night by the Sea Alone" was in July 2017, when I came back from a business trip in Hong Kong and just moved to a new home. The city where I have slept on a business trip has at least some warmth at the beginning of the lights. Compared with the empty house, there is still a trace of nostalgia. Looking through the ice wine left by the former landlord, he sat alone on the floor of the living room and searched for the name of "Hong Shangxiu".
At that time, the romance between Hong Sang-soo and Kim Min-hee was on the rise, and I heard that the director was bold and made a movie about the analysis of feelings and self, and was more honest. 밤의해변에서혼자, literally translated as "night, by the sea, alone", each word is cut abruptly, and there is a decisive sense of loneliness, suitable for late-night wine pairing.
It was the first time I watched "Alone" and I didn't care about anything else, I just wanted to appreciate Kim Min Hee. In the worldview of straight women like me, there are two kinds of women who get angry when they see it. The first is that he does not know that he is beautiful, so he puts on a childlike posture and seeks the protection of the world, which can be regarded as a white lotus. The second is to know that you are beautiful, but use it as a skill to please the world, make the best use of it, and be regarded as a fox spirit.
Kim Min Hee under Hong Sang Soo's camera is the type that women will fall in love with. Kim Min-hee and her actress Young-hee are both femme-enfant, child-like women. The beginning of the movie is her most natural look, with an oval face, firm skin, loosely tied up hair, and pale eyebrows like no makeup. Young-hee is sensitive, almost neurotic, and naive, almost contrived. She would often talk to the people around her, absent-mindedly agreeing: "Ah, is that so." She suddenly bent her eyes and laughed again, and stepped forward to ask her girlfriend for a kiss.
How would you describe Young Hee? Dark green sweater, beige trousers, black woolen coat that is longer than the knees, Nordic-style indifferent style, but she describes herself as a woman with a lot of desires. She avoids the crowd and smokes a cigarette in a desolate way, lovingly stroking the plants by the roadside, shaking her feet in the sun, and humming a song softly. She looked at the scenery on the cold seaside, as if she didn't know whether it was cold or warm, so she lay down and fell asleep. When walking in the park, I passed a wooden bridge and knelt down and prayed when my heart moved. These loneliness are so unconsciously vented, but they become beauty and art in the eyes of others
People who read the story say that Young Hee is Kim Min Hee himself. Beauty is not so important anymore. Young-hee knows that she is beautiful, and she used it well when she needed to use it. She has dated many good-looking men, and sighed that "good-looking men have to pay a corresponding price." In the movie, the word "monster" appears twice. The forbidden love is going to make oneself a monster. Should it be stopped or continued? The heavy pressure of morality, the careful touch of friends around you, should be stopped, but the heart is walking on its own, what is controlling it? Is it desire?
She was tormented, like wine simmering on a small fire, no one was looking after her. But in the eyes of weak people who are disqualified to love, it seems that something has arisen from the depths of their hearts, and there is a fragrance full of vitality rising faintly.
The only person who can express Hong Sang-soo's remorse, love, introspection and straightforwardness is Kim Min-hee, who is in love with him.
View more about On the Beach at Night Alone reviews
