A Second Brief Encounter with Hong Sangsoo

Not only have we been to BFI Southbank to see his film, we were also invited to a reception organised for Hong Sangsoo by the Korean Cultural Centre in UK (KCCUK). I don’t know for sure how it happened, probably by some sort of mistakes, but I was only too happy to oblige.

The reception was held on Monday 6 September at the Korean Cultural Centre near Trafalgar Square. Unlike what I expected there were not many people at the reception and I think the 24-hour tube strike which started that evening was somewhat accountable for the low turnout.



The Korean Cultural Centre was displaying some pictures and information about the director and his films. There were a couple of TV screens showing scenes from his films. Most impressively, there was a wall dedicated to his works in the basement where the centre’s library is situated. The wall was covered with his film posters along with the depiction of a pig’s bottom – a very cute reference to his debut work and the director’s autograph.



The reception itself seemed rather uneventful in general. There was someone from Independent Cinema Office who spoke a little bit about Hong Sangsoo and his first UK retrospective. When introduced, our man Hong Sangsoo himself only spoke briefly to thank everyone for the invitation and welcome.

Most of the time the director spent his time outside smoking and speaking on the phone. I felt rather sorry for him as it looked like he wasn’t comfortable being there. I thought the evening was going to end like this. We were having drinks and food while he was spending time away from us. However, we were encouraged to ask him any questions we would like to ask. When he came back in, he happened to come and sit next to us. To my surprise, he remembered seeing us at the BFI Southbank even mentioning my little brother. So we chatted for a little while, I mean mainly Rob with him.

During our private conversation, Mr. Hong said that Rob reminded him of a famous American actor. Even before he said the name of the actor, we knew it was Paul Newman. Believe it or not, quite a number of people (most of them happened to be Koreans) have already said the very same thing to him. Looking at the picture below, you may not agree with them, but it’s 100% true and it became one of our little jokes. Now that a prominent film director had approved it, we felt quite safe to talk about it. It certainly was the highlight of our evening, which made my lovely husband a very happy man and Mr. Hong Sangsoo his favourite Korean film director.

Hahaha - A Brief Encounter with Hong Sangsoo

First of all, this is a very belated post entirely because of my laziness. The event I’m writing about happened about a month ago from now, to be precise, on 3rd September 2010.

Going back to the story, I was very excited to learn that there would be the first UK retrospective of Hong Sangsoo’s complete films at BFI Southbank (here for more detailed information). This was definitely an opportunity not to miss. However, mainly because of my husband’s work commitment, I could only book a couple of films. The first one we went to see was the preview of Hahaha, Hong’s recent film (not the latest though, that being Oki’s Movie showing at BFI London Film Festival). There was also a session called ‘An Evening with Hong Sangsoo’ after the film, but we thought it might be too late for us. Still quite unexpectedly, but very appropriately, the director was briefly introduced to the audience at the start of the film. In short, the film was brilliant - very funny and wonderfully acted. I liked the fact that the present narrative scenes were in black & white as if they were the still shots of the past whereas the past stories were presented as if happening at the present. To my relief, my husband also enjoyed the film immensely. Without doubt, I think the endless drinking scenes by both men and women amused him the most.

When we were having a quick drink at the bar as you do here at BFI Southbank, I spotted our respected director walking past. Encouraged by Rob, I managed to walk up to him to say hi. He seemed a very quiet and pleasant man in person. I also thanked him for the enjoyment we had from the film. Not knowing what else to say, I mumbled something quite silly. Yes, I then told him that my little brother was doing his Master’s in film studies in Paris and I wished he would make as good films as his in the future. I know I felt like a winner of the most embarrassing old sister of the year but never mind. It was such a brief encounter that he wouldn’t remember much about me (or so I thought).

Anyway, I am very happy to report that this whole retrospective thing initiated me to become a member of BFI and now I’m going back to BFI Southbank quite regularly.