primalscene:Hahaha (Hong Sang-soo, 2010)File Under: The cinema of sad cigs or the deflection of awkw
primalscene:Hahaha (Hong Sang-soo, 2010)File Under: The cinema of sad cigs or the deflection of awkwardness thru the time-marker of the cig. I think Hong Sang-soo may make the greatest and most painful scenes of awkward conversation, moments of pathos that immediately become horrible, conversations that burst open only 2 dry up within seconds, fake deep comments that are almost as painful as their swift deflation by the interlocutor, silently eaten meals and most famously the most uncomfortable scenes of drunken revelry since the Marriage at Canan. I make the joke bc i cant really sit and listen 2 drunk conversation (particularly my own) anymore. I cant tell if this happened b4 or after i started watching these films. Definitely b4 maybe years b4 but these films have amplified the painfulness of overzealous declarations of passion and the subsequent (maybe even simultaneous?) self-denigration that follows. Im not even sure if i really like these films. They have a few horrible auteur-ish touches, like the signature zoom which seems way 2 60s era Jean Luc Godard-core for my taste. And i guess so are the scenes of conversation at tables. But these work far better. They cant be faulted because they really DO SOMETHING. Bypassing shot reverse we can a) watch the reactions 2 the gestures of the characters simultaneously (altho maybe we still watch it w that back and forth head mvmnt of a tennis match EXCEPT the scenes are rarely back and forth in that way - the dialogue is not rapidfire and the reactions are always stunted - this is what makes these scenes so disarming) and b) the movement of hands (and sometimes feet) is discernible at all times - crossing and uncrossing, folding and unfolding serviettes, lighting and butting out cigarettes and reaching for the soju bottle. Writing this confirms why i have just d/l-ed another few more of his films. The painfulness never reaches the point of pathos. The characters are all pathetic. There is never any revelation. No overcoming. Just hands reaching for cigs in bad company. And that bad company is almost always yrself as much as the drunke filmmaker trying 2 seduce you w/ inspirational quotes he read on the inside lif of a beer bottle. -- source link
#post emo#sad cigs#cigarettes#korean cinema#soju