En otro país

Maybe the point of the three stories all featuring a French woman (Isabelle Huppert), a lifeguard (Yoo Jun-sang), and some others in a seaside town in Korea is to say that in matters of love, our lives are all just variations on a theme. There is a randomness to how we collide off of one another, but there are also patterns in what emerges, and an underlying commonality. Or maybe that was just me trying to find a connection in what Hong Sang-soo presented.

Regardless, the little cultural differences and communication problems that stem from being "in another country" are mirrored in the struggles between romantic partners, e.g. The jealousies, infidelities, and yearning for others. There are lots of powerful emotions here, but they are presented in a subdued manner, with a quiet humanity. It's a pleasant enough film, but the stories weren't all that gripping, feeling more like doodling than finished efforts to me. I certainly thought about them for awhile afterwards though, and maybe on another night I would have given it a higher rating.

IN ANOTHER COUNTRY (dir. Sang-soo Hong) This is a thoroughly enjoyable low budget, Independent Korean film starring French super-star, Isabelle Huppert. The film is presented as a handful of separate vignettes about a French woman (all played by Huppert) who visits a small Korean seaside vacation village. The film advances the theme that innocent or friendly interactions between foreigners can often be misinterpreted as sexual advances. The film has a strange improvisational and almost surreal tone, yet cleverly manages to convey the feelings of strangeness that a woman alone might experience as a foreigner in another country. If you are a fan of Isabelle Huppert, this is a MUST SEE.

Apparently am in the minority here, but this is my 10th Hong Sang-Soo film, and it actually rates in the top 5. As a coherent narrative, it definitely isn't the best. But as an art film that can be experienced that cleverly overlaps 3 stories while incorporating meta fiction elements, ironic repetition, and creatively blurring the line between fact and fiction, "In Another Country" excels. Purposely nonlinear with its storytelling, this is the sorta film one could rewatch to catch the double meanings, hidden messages, and "spot the differences" between the always talented Isabelle Huppert as Anne #A, #B, + #C, in their respective stories. Same name, same actress, different characters? Or are they?

This isn't a film. Rather, it's a collection of rather uninteresting vignettes, all of them focused around an unpleasantly self-centred middle-aged Frenchwoman who happens to be visiting South Korea. Unfortunately, this means we're back in the world of low-budget filmmaker Hong Sang-Soo, whose previous films THE DAY HE ARRIVES and OKI'S MOVIE I've watched. I didn't like either of them, finding them pretentious, but this is even worse.

There's no story here whatsoever, just a trio of three short stories that are almost identical stylistically. Isabelle Huppert's protagonist is one of the most uninspiring I've seen in film, a woman who wanders around looking for self-gratification, boozing and smoking all the while. It becomes tiring after about five minutes. The characters she meets are equally self-absorbed, although the twist is that as she's foreign we have to put up with a ton of poorly-spoken English dialogue instead of the usual Korean language. Inevitably the shadows of sex, adultery, and alcoholism raise their head, but it's all so, well, pointless, I can't believe they bothered to make it.

I'm liking this movie more and more as I've had a chance to think about the poetry of it. Hong Sang-Soo has done something beautiful and lasting with In Another Country. Of course, having Isabelle Huppert as the star doesn't hurt.

Huppert embodies three different women named Ann, in three separate short stories. It all takes place in the sleepy beach town of Mohang. The supporting characters are mostly the same. But the circumstances change, sometimes only slightly. English is mostly spoken.

In the first story Ann is a French director staying a couple days with a Korean director friend and his pregnant wife.

In the second story Ann (wife of a businessman in Seoul) escapes to the beach town to have a tryst with as well-known Korean director.

In the third story Ann is taken to Mohang by her Korean professor woman friend to help her get over her husband leaving her for another woman, a Korean!

Other than the back-stories, not a whole lot happens in terms of plot. But the scenes unfold naturally, and with tremendous grace that they are almost painful to watch because the subtleties are just so right on.

There's one scene in the final story, when Ann, her professor friend, the man and his pregnant wife are dining alfresco, drinking soju and eating bbq. The man is obviously very curious about this white horse. He sees that Ann can enjoy soju so he pours her more, but neglects the professor friend. And worse than that, he only clinks glasses with Ann. Both the professor and the wife notice this without revealing their ire. The moment is unbearably tense.

Hong and Huppert earnestly present three slices of what it means to be a foreigner that you don't need to be Korean, French, or American to feel that weight.