The train passenger from last week spoke words which still resonate in my thoughts.
She used her phone to whisper half of her words about needing to understand her current situation. The person on the other end must have given a non-answer because she repeated the statement again while taking a deep breath. That's the feeling I kept getting watching Hong Sang-soo's By the Stream. The entire movie contains this specific pain which people experience when they want to understand their position while receiving additional space to occupy.
Jeonim spends his dawn time at the water edge where he creates designs which will become part of his textile work. She works as an art instructor at a women's college in Seoul where she maintains a stable teaching position which turns out to be unstable when analyzed in detail. When her department's student director gets dismissed for romantic entanglements with three of his cast members, she calls in her estranged uncle Chu Sieon to salvage the play. He accepts the invitation because he misses the past and he does not have any important destinations to visit. He used to be a celebrated actor. The man operates a bookstore which he established in a distant countryside location.
The movie fails to show what caused Sieon to lose his professional position. People learned from the political event that they could express themselves after society made them stay quiet. Hong maintains a vague approach which serves as the main purpose of his work. The essential thing remains the remaining impact which shows through his body language because he walks with the awkwardness of someone who has learned to accept being ignored. Kwon Hae-hyo plays this beautifully, all careful politeness that occasionally cracks into something rawer. The weight of his being remains a constant presence which Kim Min-hee through her portrayal of Jeonim continues to circle. She occasionally seeks his endorsement. She experiences anger toward him only during infrequent times. Often both.
I should admit something. The films of Hong present a challenge for me because they defy all the analytical methods which I normally use. Where is the transaction process shown in a straightforward manner?Who holds power here?I understood the scene when Sieon took his student actors to drink after their disappointing show. He asks all participants to describe what their future selves will look like. The women show their emotions through drinking soju while they cry because they want to experience deep romantic passion in their lives. "I will defend the smallest lamp which I place in the corner until my death arrives. These aren't sophisticated ambitions. The audience would have dismissed these emotional moments because Hong needed to establish his entitlement to experience them.
The movie shows this economic system through the perspective of a gift-based economic system. The students give Sieon their vulnerability. He gives his complete attention to them while showing them authentic care which he provides without expecting any form of compensation. The system exists in a state of vulnerability because it can be quickly damaged. The previous director corrupted it. Sieon, or this version of Sieon anyway, doesn't.
The camera of Hong stays still for long periods of time while showing detailed images through its constant camera frames. Bodies resting, bodies tensing, bodies trying to take up less space. Jeonim often finds herself the third presence at meals between Sieon and Professor Jeong, who develops feelings for him. She does not receive any kind of rejection which would make her feel unwanted. She understands that she has been forced to leave her original location. She walks back to the source in the film's conclusion before she returns to share her discovery with others. "There's nothing.
Nothing at all."It sounds bleak. It didn't feel bleak.
The movie explores what remains after all systems which confirmed your existence disappear completely. What do you do with your skills when no one's paying for them?The concept of community becomes complicated when it serves as the same entity which forced you to leave.
Hong might not possess any solutions to the problem. The stream could provide the solution we need.
