REVIEW - OUR SUN HI

A disrespectful streak runs through Hong Sang Soo's Our Sun Hi, which is a shame, since this ranks among the Korean director's most engaging films, despite its weak storyline. Sun Hi returns to her film school seeking a reference from her professor to study in the US. There, she meets a series of men from her past, each of whom is finally incapable of regarding her as anything more than a romantic partner. And so too, it seems, is Hong. Sun Hi spends 90 minutes fretting about one man or another, and Hong's presentation of her and her sex borders on misogyny in its carelessness and blind adoration. The familiarity of the narrative reveals Hong's keennes on not merely exploring repetition and mild variation within each of his films, but also within his canon as a whole. As an artistic expression, there's value there, but it is undercut by Hong's insistence on filmmaking techniques and stylistic quirks which are simply pointless. His still camera and the stilted performances give Our Sun Hi the character of an exercise in storytelling, and not a story in and of itself. And we're removed even further from the story by unsightly zooms and a refusal to cut between shots. If Hong is employing these methods to emphasise the intentional amateurishness of his style, he's succeeding, but at the expense of establishing much significant connection with the hearts and minds of those in the audience. A number of skillfully-acted scenes and some degree of intelligence in the dialogue and character development (but only some) are welcome, though their impact is invariably diminished by the ineptitude in Hong's direction, whether intended or not.