MIFF Session 12: WALK UP

When people in Hong Sang-soo movies say they want a little drink it will be only minutes of screen time until they are plastered. That happens in almost every scene of Walk Up and, while it might bring Hong close to self-parody his long crafted voice comes through and we find we are yet again in for a feast of nuance and thinly-veiled pain.

All Hong films are about connection. Film director Byungsoo takes his daughter who is interested in interior design to an old friend of his who works as a designer. Ms. Kim also owns the apartment block she lives in and suggests that Byungsoo consider moving in to a flat soon to be vacant. Byungsoo's daughter, left temporarily alone with Ms. Kim (both blotto) professes loyalty and hard work if Kim will give her a career start. Later, Byungsoo takes up the offer of the flat and gets involved with Jeongsu whose restaurant and cooking school are in toubled times. And so wider until we see this small cast of characters begin to question their connections as they variously feel hampered by them or even begin to get used to them.

While this is a spoilable film it is difficult to encapsulate its plot as most of what happens on screen is composed of tiny power shifts and behavioural motions. A good example of this is Jeongsu professing that she loves all of Byungsoo's films, Ms Kim, feeling some social jealousy, goading her with questions about details, trying to get her to embarrass herself (as it's obvious that she probably hasn't seen a frame of any one of them). This doesn't lead to the intended humiliation as Jeongsu and Byungsoo are well on the way to mutual attraction. Later, when he is dozing he overhears another couple making life plans and mumbles a sleepy soliloquy about wanting to be alone.

I don't know if I'm selling this well, but I might not need to. Hong produces about a movie per year. They've been appearing at MIFF for the past decade or more and his name has become a festival favourite. He just doesn't get local releases. If you don't subscribe to Mubi or go looking for physical releases, you aren't likely to come across his work. His films have none of the profile of his fellow Koreans Park Chan-wook or Bong Joon-ho but there would definitely be a market for him, however niche. If we want to try dodging the MCU epics or tentpole 'travaganze with some finely detailed miniatures this is the director for you. They aren't over long and, while exploring complexity, present very fresh and plain speaking. They just don't get screened locally.