The Novelist’s Film (2022)
Directed by Hong Sang-soo
Chicago International Film Festival 2022
Hong Sang-soo’s run of pandemic films have all been interesting exercises to the limits of his style. Frankly, I’ve struggled a bit, finding his pared down approach to lack a certain cinematic panache. I like it when he’s playfully whimsical or deeply introspective, and the last time I felt him excelling at both were with Yourself and Yours (2016) and On the Beach at Night Alone (2017), respectively. The intermittent films, particularly In Front of Your Face (2021), left me oddly dissatisfied. And even a film like Introduction (2021), as moving as it was, felt so skeletal in structure. Now that I’ve humblebragged about my affinity for SK’s preeminent filmmaker, I’ll say that The Novelist’s Film places Hong back on track. It’s a percussive, agreeable film to watch in the moment, and it’s one that has left an indelible impression after a night’s rest.
It’s a series of vignettes, akin to In Front of Your Face, in how it follows a middle-aged woman navigating old and new relationships. Junhee (Lee Hyeyoung) is the eponymous novelist, as she rekindles an old friendship with a bookseller named Sewon (Seo Younghwa). The conversation between the two is stilted, as if they’re keeping secrets from one another. Junhee wanders this suburb outside of Seoul and encounters a litany of old friends and new acquaintances. It’s not until she meets with a former actress named Kilsoo (Hong luminary Kim Minhee) where the tone shifts. If Junhee was reticent to converse with old friends (including a rather pompous Hong stand-in played by Kwon Hae-hyo), she’s immediately drawn to KIlsoo’s magnetic personality. They forge an immediate bond, as the two artists promise to collaborate on a future film.
I recently took a trip to Philadelphia. Whereas I was jet setting for much of 2021, this trip to Philly has been my only escapade out of the midwest this year. And while it was enjoyable, I ended up feeling rather disconnected from the world and myself. That was until I met someone on my penultimate night there. We had a lengthy, thoughtful conversation and I ended up feeling like the trip was worth it for that chance encounter alone. I think that energy is what Hong Sang-soo captures here. He highlights specific feelings and circumstances that are meaningful to me. Like in Night and Day (2008), a character retreats from a relationship gone awry to Paris, getting lost within the city of light. I recall during my stay in Paris that same sensation, a contentment with wandering the city streets and not having the slightest clue where I was or where I was headed. With The Novelist’s Film, that excitement of meeting someone new, someone you share a similar sensibility with, and allowing yourself to indulge in that newness is perfectly realized. I don’t think anyone would suggest that this is a major Hong film, but it’s a tender and sweet one that pinpoints the importance of opening yourself up to new experiences. Might seem slight or banal, but that reminder was positively necessary for me.