The Novelist's Film

Kim Min-hee and Lee Hye Yeong

Hong Sang-soo's The Novelist's Film is a minor triumph, a self reflexive look at an artist pivoting from a fallow period. Lee Hye Yeong plays Jun-hee, a novelist of a certain age who is grappling with her lack of artistic direction. She travels away from Seoul to a small town where a friend she has not seen in years owns a book store. With the help of her friend and a string of coincidences, Jun-hee is able to find inspiration and channel it into a film project. The scope of the film is small, but the performances are adept and the end effect heartening.

The film is shot almost entirely in high contrast black and white. Available light in the background washes out the depth of field, bringing our full attention to the amiable, but barbed interchanges in the foreground. Jun-hee's artistic quest surely mirrors Hong's own. The mask comes off in a brief color sequence late in the film when Kim Min-hee (Hong's sweetie) and the director burble "I love yous" to each other. Self-indulgent and talkie, The Novelist's Film, like the work of Erich Rohmer, is a conversational drama of erudite charm.