Night and Day
It’s daunting. Hong Sang-soo loves to make movies about authors who are at an impasse, and “Night and Day” is another one of those. Random guy is in some life crisis, goes to Paris, meets a bunch of women who all somehow want to get into his pants but can’t find what he’s looking for, so he goes home to his wife.
Honestly, that’s about it. I have always liked Hong Sang-soo’s style, the intertwining of layers of time, characters and space. I like his repetition of scenes (which often come off as a running joke), the seemingly pointless talk between some characters and the love-centricity of others. I even like how childishly jealous most of his characters are because, really, we are all childish when it comes to that. “Night and Day” is a little different. There is a little less intertwining, the main character’s journey through Paris is a rather linear adventure, and his relationships (much unlike “Nobody’s daughter Haewon”) are all rather shallow. Most of all, it makes absolutely no sense why the women would even remotely take any interest in this idiot. I suspect this is just the director’s wishful thinking, which is probably the film’s biggest weakness. Even so, the film is not a complete blasphemy to Paris and Courbet’s “Origine du Monde”. I liked the main female love interest, and I liked watching the main character’s failing in everything – social situations, finding his identity as a painter and, ultimately, finding love. I was happy to see Paris, though it was only a small glimpse of it.
Having seen a bunch of Hong Sang-soo films by now, I would definitely agree that “Night and Day” is the weakest (mainly because the main character’s love stories don’t make sense). Nevertheless, it’s still typical Hong Sang-soo fare so if one likes the style, this film will make a pleasant evening. HSS is a brand that never fails to taste the same, like Chicken McNuggets.