The Cinecultist's Weekly Repertory Pick: Hong Sang-soo at BAM

(A not so new) newsflash: some of best international cinema being made today is coming out of Korea. One of the established leaders of that pack is Hong Sang-soo, a director Mahnola Dargis called "one of the most exciting and authentically individual filmmakers to emerge on the world stage recently." A frequent participant in the New York Film Festival, his movies are brilliant character studies, examining the intricately messed-up ways men and women try to relate to each other and often fail. The Korea Society and BAM Cinematek has been hosting a mini-retrospective of Hong's work this past week with two more films playing this weekend, 2005's Tale of Cinema today and 2006's Woman on the Beach tomorrow. In Tale of Cinema, a two part structure reveals two stories, one about a couple vowing to die in a suicide pact in a rented hotel room and another about a film director who walking out of a movie about that suicidal couple meets the actress who played the young woman. Woman on the Beach also involves a filmmaker, this time on vacation in a sleepy seaside town where he's trying to finish his newest film script and pick up women. Many of Hong's most memorable scenes involve something simple like a couple getting drunk and their ensuing sexual tension, but the way he crafts the quiet exchanges is both subtle and electrifying. Like the work of Woody Allen or Ingmar Bergman, Hong's movies celebrate the impact of a glance and the fascination in human drama. Some of Hong's films are available on DVD, but if you can take this great opportunity to see them projected on the big screen.

More upcoming repertory highlights in the next week include a Night with Farley Granger, an actor known for his roles in Hitchock's Rope and Strangers On A Train, on Monday at Film Forum, and a Young Friends of Film screening of Waitress with producer Michael Roiff and star Keri Russell on hand for a post-film Q&A on Thursday at the Film Society.

[Production still from Hong Sang-soo's Tale of Cinema.]