“Nowadays”, the new poetic feature film by South Korean director Hong Sang-soo

Author of 32 films in 27 years, South Korean director well known at international festivals, Hong Sang-soo returns this time with Of our time (In Our Day), on screens Wednesday, July 19. A refined and perfectly mastered work since he is in charge of the script, the direction, the music, the photography, the editing, the production…

At the genesis of the film, a telephone. By discovering in the archives of his smartphone a photo of his muse Kim Minh-hee side by side with that of actor Ki Joo-bong, Hong Sang-soo decides to build two parallel stories. On the one hand, an actress who no longer plays receives a visit from a distant cousin who wishes to become an actress. On the other, a poet, sick and alcoholic, tries to wean himself despite the arrival of two young admirers. On each side, young people ask themselves (more or less) existential questions: “Do you think poetry is essential in our time?“, “How to play ?“, “What is it to live?“… But the two “wise men” will never really answer it, preferring to drink or admire the flowers. “Life goes on without worrying about the reasons“.

Drunkenness and spicy pasta

An uninformed viewer might find the 84 minutes of this South Korean auteur film quite long. One character caresses a big cat for 10 minutes, another eats chilli pasta while ecstatic in front of a camera. Here, do not expect any action scene or breathtaking staging. The plans are often static, at the height of men, some dialogues at first sight without interest. As if the spectator arrived as if by magic at the heart of a conversation, unable to understand what is happening.

Hong Sang-soo is not known for taking the viewer by the hand…and that can be frustrating. Impossible to escape from a scene, to indulge in contemplation. The gaze is always obstructed. Even outside, the horizon is almost non-existent. It is then necessary to concentrate on the characters: their exchanges, their silences, to understand what is at stake, to discover through a gesture or a seemingly innocuous conversation the full force of the plot.

” What is it to live? the apprentice writer asks the poet.

– Live ? What you’re looking for is the right answer, right? There are too many right answers, there are in every book. You already know some. Not true ?

– Yes.

– Those are the wrong answers.

– All of them?

– Yes, all of them. That’s why we’re all clumsy, immature and incomplete. We all become one in the end. But when you’re alive, you don’t realize it.“

Then comes a highly alcoholic game of rock-paper-scissors. At that time, the poet will he make fun of his addictions and his illness.

The sheet

Gender : Drama

Director: Hong Sang-soo

Actors : Kim Min-hee, Gi Ju-bong, Song Sun-mi, Park Mi-so, Ha Seong-guk, Kim Seung-yun

Country : South Korea

Duration : 1:24

Exit : July 19, 2023

Distributer : Capricci Films

Summary: Two alternating conversations in Seoul: a former actress is solicited by a debutante while an old poet receives an admirer. The two stars dodge the existential questions of their interlocutor, the first thinks of his recent reconversion and the second battles with his withdrawal from alcohol and tobacco.