Night and Day was a rather interesting Korean film about a man’s life in Paris where hardly anyone speaks Korean so his world is rather condensed and he can only interact with certain people.
I also read an interesting article from Variety and I agree with most of what the author said and he brought to attention the differences in society that only Koreans or those familiar with the culture would most likely understand. One of my favorite points was something he said about the attention to hidden tensions. “The script shows a sharp eye not only for hidden tensions but also for the way usual Korean societal norms become fractured among expatriates. One scene between Seong-nam and Yu-jeong revolves around the (almost untranslatable) way they address each other in Korean; two others, involving Seong-nam and a young North Korean (Lee Sun-gyun), extend the theme in an amusing way.” (Derek Elley) I really liked this statement and agree with it wholeheartedly. I know a bit about the history of Korea so I understood some of the hidden tensions and differences in culture.
Another thing I agree Elley about is the fact that the film looses it’s freshness after about 80 minutes. It did have an interesting quality at first but it went on for far too long as the movie progressed. The film was interesting and the director’s decision to not have the characters change was a bold one but it seemed like a point he was trying to prove and it worked out well.
Elley, Derek. "Night and Day." Variety 12 Feb. 2008: n. pag. Web. 3 Oct 2009.
Word.
Expat
An expatriate (in abbreviated form, expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing or legal residence. The word comes from the Latin ex (out of) and patria (country, fatherland).
Erin, I like your focus on the "attention to hidden tensions" in the film. I wonder how much of this is hard to translate for non-Korean speakers and how many details are lost to foreign film-goers. I am glad you did some research and learned more about the film. I also liked your comment about the choice to not have the main character change throughout the course of the film. What do you think about that choice and the director's overall strategy?
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