Like most of Hong Sangsoo's work, Claire's Camera feels effortless in its dramatic sensibilities, feeling slight from its onset before slowly revealing the understated complexities of its story related to communication, coincidence, and companionship. Through a free-flowing narrative that feels free from the strictures of linear narrative storytelling, Claire's Camera carries an ethereal sensibility to the way it portrays its interactions, blending tenderness with dramatics in a way that feels wholly organic and incisive about the ways in which we as individuals communicate with each other. As one would expect from Hong Sangsoo, nothing about this film feels manufactured or weighed down by the need for exposition, and one of my favorite aspects of this film is just how it rapturously captures the ephemeral beauty of connection while traveling in a foreign spatiality, where the pretense of knowing bears no weight on the potential for connection. There is drama lying underneath the surface of this story, yet Hong remains one of the very best at recognizing how to encapture this organically through character and interaction instead of overstated dramatics, as the film slowly excavated underlying tensions, anxieties, and uncertainty of its characters in a way that manages to be soothing yet incisive. Another understated gem from Hong Sangsoo, Claire's Camera features perhaps one of my favorite quirky comedic bits yet from the South Korean filmmaker - Kim Min-hee's character asking for a selfie from her boss after getting laid off as a way of commensurating their relationship. It's a fun moment but there is also something profound about it on an intellectual and emotional level. Kim Min-hee seemingly has no control over this negative outcome yet her response is rooted in positivity, choosing to embrace what they shared instead of fixating on the action itself, a difficult conception but one which I think ultimately leads to a better, and ultimately more fulfilling way of living.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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