Oh! Soo-Jung
South Korea,
2000, 127 min
Shown in 2001
CREDITS
- dir
-
Hong Sang-soo
- prod
-
Lee Yu-jin
- scr
-
Hong Sang-soo
- cam
-
Choi Young-taek
- editor
-
Ham Sung-won
- mus
-
Ok Gil-sung
- cast
-
Lee Eun-joo, Jung Bo-suk, Moon Sung-keun
- source
-
Mirovision, 7F Garden Building, 45-18 Youido-dong, Yongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea. FAX: 82-2-737-1184. EMAIL: namu70@mirovision.com
OTHER
The recent cinematic trend of older man/younger woman fetish fantasies is both parodied and exposed in this dryly engaging film by one of Korea’s most acclaimed new directors. Playfully skipping between the man’s version, the woman’s version and different moments of the day when the two protagonists might finally have sex, Hong Sang-soo gives the tale the light feel of early Godard or romantic Truffaut, complete with impressive black-and-white lensing and a spirited disregard for narrative convention. Soo-jung is an attractive television writer “torn” (a strong word for her remarkably lethargic mood) between two men: her alternately downtrodden or overbearing—but always married—boss Young-soo, and his friend Jae-hoon, a wealthy gallery owner. First Jae-hoon, then Soo-jung retell their eventual courtship. His recollections remain peppered with references to his fancy sports car; hers are—needless to say—quite different. Both versions, though, involve a blur of increasingly drunken dinners, dates and fateful meetings. Proving that anywhere alcohol goes, love follows (or is that the other way around), Virgin Stripped Bare (named after a Marcel Duchamp work) uncorks lines like “How about if I be your girlfriend only when you drink?” to cynically unveil the truth and remarkable confusion behind love and desire.
—Jason Sanders
FACTOID #175
In 1967, two years prior to her death, the Festival honored Judy Garland in the first (according to the program note) American homage of her work. Garland was unable to attend.
