Kangwon-do ui him (1998)

English title: The Power of Kangwon Province.

Synopsis (spoilers): Three young women go to a mountain area on a weekend vacation. There they befriend a policeman who gets into a relationship with one of them. In sequence, a story which happens simultaneously with the first is shown. In it, two guys go to that same place of the first story for a weekend vacation. During the time frame of both stories, a murder happens in the area: a man pushes a woman off a cliff. One of the two vacationing guys witnessed the murderer check in by himself at the airport, and deducted he killed the woman; he informs the police about it. In the last act, we learn that one of the three girls (the one who started a relationship with the policeman) had been the girlfriend of one of the two guys (the one who phoned the police).

Appraisal: I am sorry if the synopsis above gets some detail wrong; I just don't feel inclined to watch this film again only to straighten out some misperception or to catch some subtle nuance. Anyway, from what I gathered, the film shows how people are trapped inside their miserable lives, never achieving happiness in their relationships, cultivating superficial friendships (which invariably explode in accusations and envy from one or several of the parts), and - in a subplot the details of which we never get to know - even killing the loved one. Although mildly interesting, it refrains from any depth; the scant (or inexistent?) use of close-ups has us at times guessing who is the person we see on the screen. I don't see much point in those formal choices. The style is elliptic and mysterious with varying results (possible most enigmatic example being a goldfish which appears out of nowhere in the girls' path and which is presumably the same one which vanishes from the male protagonist's basin).

Rating: 50

(Seen on August 18)