Review: ‘The Novelist’s Film’ is another exquisite tale of cinema from Hong Sang-soo
With the release, in limited release, of “The Novelist’s Film” on 2,200 screens (a “limited run” for a “limited” film), another film that I was able to see in the course of this year’s festival experience was the much acclaimed “I Am the Sea” by Hong Sang-soo. The film, directed by Shin Sang-ok and his Korean wife Hong Sang-soo, is the story of an elderly filmmaker who returns to his native land as a struggling screenwriter and actor searching for his identity in a new world.
The filmmaker plays a pivotal role in the early part of the film. He is a man who is both a poet and a writer. He works both in theater and on screen, a combination that allows him to both be himself and to play roles for which he is better suited. He is deeply conflicted about leaving his family and his country, while not giving up on his ambitions as a writer.
In the end, he decides to move to Japan where his writing career will have more impact. Hong, who wrote the screenplay, portrays the young writer in a very moving way, and this is perhaps the most delicate part of the film.
Shooting was underway for over two months in Japan, beginning with a few key scenes that were filmed using a tiny camera. This was part of a deliberate strategy of preparing the actors to perform in a very small space and on a very small budget. Shin Sang-ok has an enormous talent for storytelling and he uses this to create tension. For example, the camera is mounted on a dolly and the actors are moved up and down with it so that the camera and actors are constantly in motion. This creates a sense of the actors having to react to the action and the camera on the fly. Each time a shot is done, the camera needs