vs.
M/Other (Nobuhiro Suwa, 1999) vs. The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (Hong Sang-Soo, 1996)
I don't really know what I can say about this film that edgar hasn't already articulated in his two articulately
written reviews for the first round of this bracket. How awesome is this bracket that it leads to the discovery of a film with only 127 votes and one review on IMDB that will most likely make my Top 20 Discoveries of the year.
Plotwise, it's a really simple film. It focuses on a divorced restaurateur and his live-in girlfriend who seem to share a warm and affectionate relationship albeit one that seems to avoid the issue of commitment. Early in the film, the delicate balance of this relationship is disturbed when Tetsuro is forced to bring his young son, Shun, into the house he shares with Aki when his ex-wife is hospitalized following a car accident. Like edgar says, this film masterfully avoids the formulaic Hollywood plot progression that one tends to expect given the premise. What really really works in this film is not so much what the story is about but the way the story is told.
The film reminded me of Cassavetes in that a lot of the film feels improvised and relies extensively on the actors fleshing out dialogues and possibly even plot details. It wasn't at all surprising to see that the two leads get screenwriting credits on the film. The other thing that really stands out about the film is also the visual style. The film feels a little voyeuristic as though we are secretly peeking into the very private lives of these characters. Suwa also seems to love shooting people through doorways and windows or in reflection and that just adds to this feeling. As edgar already pointed out, the camera doesn't really move around a whole lot. It often stays static for several minutes at a time with the characters walking in and out of frame and the film mostly avoids any sort of traditional blocking. This just adds to the realism that the improvised dialogue already brings to the film. Wikipedia tells me that Suwa started his film career making television documentaries and that background definitely shows through in this film.
Somehow Suwa has succeeded in making a film that despite it's length feels constantly engaging and is rigorously formal and deliberate in its pacing while still feeling spontaneous and realistic. Plus, without relying on too many plot points or backstory, it manages to make these characters feel incredibly human and complex. The lead actress in particular delivers a really brilliant and yet subtle performance managing to embody Aki's an entire tapestry of emotions - the growing affection towards Shun, a mixture of love and repressed frustration towards Tetsuro, her own insecurities regarding her choice to not live up to the traditional role of a Japanese housewife.
It's a really quiet and intimate film that packs so much emotional punch. There are so many moments in the film where see two people make a connection and these moments are so naturalistic and yet filled with such warmth and joy. Such a perfect ending too.
"What did I just watch?". Those were my thoughts immediately after watching Hong Sangsoo's debut feature film.
I think it helped that I had read Bluevoid's first round review of this film and was prepared for a complex narrative structure. The structure is definitely unconventional and challenging. The film basically follows four characters - a struggling writer, a young woman who seems to be one of his multiple lovers, a housewife who is also in a relationship with the writer and her husband who is a businessman who is often away from home on business. The film follows an episodic structure with each episode seemingly focused on merely describing a day in the life of each of these characters but then gradually goes on to reveal how these characters and their lives are connected.
To begin with, I think I liked this film a fair bit more than Bluevoid did. That being said, i can totally understand Bluevoid's frustration with the film. The film initially seems to be focused on quotidian everyday events but as the film progresses, these are punctured by scenes that don't seem to quite fit into the narrative. There's a dream sequence (or at least that's what I think it is) that's not clearly marked as one. The changes in the focus from one protagonist to the other makes it difficult to build an emotional connection with any of the characters. These changes also lead to ellipses in the narrative that makes it harder to keep track of the plot. But where my reaction differs from Bluevoid's response to the film is that having gone along for the ride and given in to this complex structure, I found the structure to be my favorite thing about the film.
The film is basically one of alienation and a sense of disconnect that all of these characters are plagued with and the structure somehow served to really bring that sense of disconnect to life for me. The film is also shot mostly inside cramped spaces making the sense of claustrophobia physically palpable. So despite these narrative ellipses and the shifting focus, the film did end up being resonating emotionally for me.
The characters in this film are amongst the most pathetic characters ever written. They all seem to be stuck in this spiral of self-destructive behavior that they can't seem to get out of. Normally, I have a hard time watching films with completely despicable characters but there's something about the image of Dong-woo sitting on the motel bed with his head down and his body shaking uncontrollably that was completely harrowing to watch.
There are shots that are absolutely inconsequential. Even after the second viewing, they had nothing at all to do with anything in the movie, and were in no way interesting. It baffles me why they were included. It would have been excusable if this was only a couple scenes, but it seemed it was more like every other scene.
I had a different response to these scenes. These seemingly useless scenes that seem to make up the mundane lives of these characters seem necessary to establish that sense of emptiness and vacuity that ails these people. And by the end, I felt like these seemingly random scenes and pieces of dialogue are essential to the larger narrative. I rewatched several parts of the film this morning and certainly feel that one gets a lot more from the film on rewatching it.
the movie was just completely plain visually. There were no shots which were visually interesting, and the cinematography made me want to take a nap.
Here I am in complete agreement with Bluevoid. I think Hong is deliberately choosing a stripped down, flat visual style but the film really does end up looking rather ugly.
Verdict: I appreciate what Hong is doing in
The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well and ultimately think it's pretty successful at drawing these connections between disconnection and violence and this sense of alienation and hopelessness as a malady suffered by modern men. But ultimately, the film just left me feeling really depressed and dirty (which I guess is the point). I also don't think that I necessarily like all of the directorial choices that Hong makes, especially the visual style (or lack thereof).
M/Other on the other hand felt pretty perfect to me. It's engaging, perfectly paced, well-acted and left me itching to watch more Suwa and more movies in general.
M/Other moves on and will hopefully go deep in this bracket.