No matter how much of Hong's work I see, the way he rapturously encapsulates the politics of social interaction with such jovial honesty and cutting simplicity always seems to strike me anew every time I consume another one of his works. The Woman Who Ran is more straightforward, less subversive from a formal or narrative perspective, and yet it remains a highly enjoyable and incisive work about relationships that feels familiar yet differential from Hong's work. It's interesting how the opening scene features the only real moment related to Hong's trope of alcohol-induced truth, with much of what follows in The Woman Who Ran being more grounded in spatialities of domesticated life in which old friends reminisce, often avoiding any type of confrontation when the immediacy of their divergent lives interjects and disrupts the casual pleasantries of old friendships. There is an interesting dichotomy between femininity and masculinity exhibited here. External conflict being almost exclusively incited by the injection of masculinity, whether it be the hilarious "Robber Cats" bit or the confrontation at the end of the film that subtly drives our main protagonist back to the theater in search of solace. Not entirely sure but there is something there I swear. Another quietly complex work from Hong that manages to feel light and breezy while it slyly and subtlety excavated underlying truths about consciousness, sociality, and perception.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
|