Night and Day

Sangsoo depicts wanderlust in Paris

Comments (0) By D.L. Groover Thursday, Jan 7 2010

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Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo is not so much an acquired taste as he is an unknown quantity, at least outside of art houses and specialized venues for the cinematic cognoscenti. Those in the know love his spare, standoffish, improvisational style, or as Film Journal’s Adam Hartzell observed, "his unsexy sex scenes." A darling of the international film festival circuit, Hong is regarded as one of the young turks, a director who isn't averse to shooting a drunk scene by getting his actors drunk. (His iconoclasm extends even to the spelling of his name. He prefers Sangsoo to the more traditional Sang-soo.) In his recent comedy Night and Day (2008), Hong's protagonist finds himself far from the comforts of Korea and stranded in exotic Paris, where he is beguiled by three expats and feels terribly guilty about the wife he left behind in Seoul. That doesn't stop his wanderlust or his playfully wicked dreams of freedom. Night and Day runs in conjunction with the exhibit "Your Bright Future: 12 Contemporary Artists from Korea." 7 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7515 or visit www.mfah.org/films. $6 to $7.
Sat., Jan. 9, 7 p.m.; Sun., Jan. 10, 5 p.m., 2010