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Some Male Lovers Existential Crisis

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By Roger Costa

THE DAY AFTER

A man hides out in the park where he pours out in tears; he’s in trouble, an apparent heartache, a strong desire he can’t control. Korean master Hong Sangsoo’s 21st feature-film embodies all the questioning about love, desire, loyalty, marriage and creative process he’s been depicting throughout his fascinating career, though this time it feels more dramatic and impulsively sad, as if he found out the answers for his questions, especially after his own marital scandal. In a fashionable B&W, the film observes the passionate impulses of a womanizer publisher, dealing with his multiple romances: his wife, his former assistant, a secretary, and a ravishing new employee, played by Sangsoo’s muse Kim Minhee. Through long conversations and many confrontations, the director makes a philosophical and perceptive portrait on modern relationship, as the protagonist looks for the meaning of existence, and how to control his unfaithful behavior. Elegantly funny, sensitive and somehow aggressive (there is a fight scene!), Sangsoo brilliantly closes a personal cycle of explanations, in a very humane cinematic ambiance. (Cinema Guild. 5/11. Film Society of Lincoln Center.)

SILENT NIGHT

Young Adam is back home for Christmas but he has other reasons to be there. His recent marriage and soon-to-be-born baby need some extra care, and capital, so the sale of some of the family’s property would sort things out. But first he must deal with his unsolved matters with his brother, as well as those related to his parents. Polish director Piotr Domalewski’s family drama is a character-driven, fast-paced and intriguing look at a dysfunctional family and the need of forgiveness and understanding. Adam is dealing with a personal crisis where he decides to stir up everyone’s affection towards him: he’s constantly questioning his parents’ love, the same way he doubts his wife, his brother and everyone around. Making an impressive debut, Domalewski follows his protagonist everywhere, conceiving a masterful work on male uneasiness and ambition. (Screening May 12 and 22, as part of the Panorama Europe 2018 at Museum of Moving Image.)

ALSO AT PANORAMA

Portuguese director Rita Azevedo Gomes examines poets Sophia de Mello Breyner and Jorge de Sena’s exchanging love-letters in the experimental, poetic and inclusive CORRESPONDENCES. The same structure is found in Austrian filmmaker Ruth Beckermann’s tender THE DREAMED ONES (pictured), where two actors re-enact the love affair between Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, two renowned poets from postwar Germany. (The Festival runs thru May 31.)


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