Discovery of Life – Romantic Journey Along with Lust

There is somewhat special `taste` about director Hong Sang-Su.

His works like `The day a pig fell into well`, `Power of Kangwon-do`, and `Oh! Sujong` are not `movie-like`. They lack in `exaggerative sweeteners` that touch viewers’ emotions, which include dramatic events, sweet music, and dazzling cinematography.

However, his works taste deeper, when chewed more and more.

His new production, `Discovery of Life`, is no exception from his unique atmosphere. Instead, the taste has gone deeper. At least `The day…` and `Power…` had `incidents` like death and murder, and that `Oh! Sujong` contained complex artistry of humor and fine organization against human’s selfish memories.

`Discovery…` is about the romance that actor Kyeong-Su (Kim Sang-Kyung) goes through during his trip for 6 days and 7 nights. While traveling, Kyeong-Su meets dancer Myeong-Suk (Yei Ji-Won) and married woman Sun-Young (Chu Sang-Mi) who has a professor husband, respectively, and has sex with them.

If this is explained with wild words… the main scene of this work is about a man’s `flirting` with women in expectation of `scandal` in unknown places, and is also the `overlap` of one man and two women to pass by each other through the medium of sex.

When Kyeong-Su’s dream of movie-appearance fails, he visits a friend in Chuncheon for refreshing. As Myeong-Suk is attracted to him, Kyeong-Su sleeps with her, even though he knows that his friend likes her. Leaving the one-night-stand behind, he gets on the train to Pusan. Kyeong-Su, then, meets Sun-Young on the train and stops in Kyeongju to have sex with her.

Although the characters of `Discovery…`, like in previous movies of director Hong, insist on love while having sex, those scenes are dry like daily life after all. Because love and sex are mere materials for some kind of observation, not for raising emotions among viewers.

If `Oh! Sujong` touched on incorrect memories of human beings through the scope of two men and one woman’s relationship, `Discovery…` focused on human’s imitative acts that are repeated unconsciously.

For this, the movie often displays calculated lines and scenes in particular parts. The two women, whom Kyeong-Su meets, leave similar lines of `You in me, I in you` after having sex.

Also, Kyeong-Su imitates what a movie producer said, ¡°Although it’s hard to live like a human, let’s not become a monster.¡° and uses it in different situations. In short, the movie’s 2 hours of running time is totally owned by Hong Sang-Su. This is Hong’s `power` that nobody can imitate, but it is also the reason that the distance from audience does not become shorter. Opening Date: 22nd Rating: above 18

Gab-Sik Kim gskim@donga.com