Release date: November 2011
The first third of the film is
surrealistic meta-cinema: a director, displaying a clichéd grasp of the
intricacies of telling a story, lectures his producer in voice-over, while
actors, without speaking, emerge from a run-down shack and begin to re-act to
the director’s instructions. The middle third reverts to realism: an enfant terrible film director is working
on a screenplay for his next film at the luxurious digs of his executive
producer, arguing with her, throwing tantrums, and ordering around the novelist
who has been hired to bring some artistry to the project. The director’s films so
far have been commercial successes but panned by the critics and, while his
intention is for his next film to be a critical success, it is obvious his
personality will continue to get in the way. The final third of the spins back
into surrealism again, with the actress/novelist/actress wandering around Seoul
and then inside the run-down shack until she finally sets off across a field
which turns into the ocean.
Very indie, experimental, self-indulgent,
this film. Each real-life actor assumes the role of two or more characters: for
example, Kim Soo-hyeon plays first a poor student, then the
novelist, then a final role for which it is unclear who she is playing. Lots of
contrapuntal sound effects. Lots
of odd scenes spliced in throughout – a pair of wringing hands, a skull of
perhaps a dog on the ground, views of old buildings in disrepair – none of us
got what any of the symbolism of all this was supposed to mean or what the
filmmakers were trying to say about filmmaking.
My take: no stars
Supporting actors, assembled
before the
run-down shack, await the director’s instructions.
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