Hong Sang-soo’s Motifs
[Bandwith warning: this article contains a lot of images]
Owing its unity to its variations, Hong Sang-soo’s oeuvre provokes inventory-making more than others. One will find here a collection of some of the running motifs, those called for by memory and those formed as the images were collected. Floating motifs, from plate to plate – drawing, between rigidity and woolliness, between heaven and earth, an art of posture and distance, in which any relationship and resemblance could be mere coincidence. Clinking as pleasantly, we hope, as glasses on a table.
(1) Kangwon-do ui him [The Power of Kangwon Province] (1998) / (2) Haebyeonui yeoin [Woman on the Beach] (2006)
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(3) Bam gua nat [Night and Day] (2008) / (4) Book chon bang hyang [The Day He Arrives] (2011)
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Left column from top to bottom: (5) Yeojaneun namjaui miraeda [Woman Is the Future of Man] (2004) / (6) Woman on the Beach (2006) / (7) Jal al-ji-do mot-ha-myeon-seo [Like You Know it All] (2009) / (8) The Day He Arrives (2011) / (9) Ok-hui-ui yeonghwa [Oki’s Movie] (2010) / (10) Nugu-ui ttal-do anin Hae-won [Nobody’s Daughter Haewon] (2013)
Right column from top to bottom: (11) Saenghwalui balgyeon [On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate] (2002) / (12) Woman on the Beach (2006) / (13) Like You Know it All (2009) / (14) Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013) / (15) Geuk jang jeon [Tale of Cinema] (2005) / (16) Night and Day (2008)
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Left column from top to bottom: (17) The Power of Kangwon Province] (1998) / (18) Woman Is the Future of Man (2004)
Right column from top to bottom: (19) Oh! Soo-jung [Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors] (2000) / (20) Tale of Cinema (2005)
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Left column from top to bottom: (21) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002) / (22) Night and Day (2008)
Right column from top to bottom: (23) Woman on the Beach (2006) / (24) Cheopcheopsanjung [Lost in the Mountains] (2009)
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Left column from top to bottom: (25) Woman on the Beach (2006) / (26) Daijiga umule pajinnal [The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well] (1996) / (27) Woman Is the Future of Man (2004) / (28) Night and Day 2008)
Right column from top to bottom: (29) Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013) / (30) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (31) Like You Know it All (2009) / (32) Oki’s Movie (2010)
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(33) The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (1996) / (34) Nobody's Daughter Haewon (2013)
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Left column from top to bottom: (35) Tale of Cinema] (2005) / (36) Night and Day (2008)
Right column from top to bottom: (37) U ri Sunhi [Our Shunhi] (2013) / (38) Oki’s Movie (2010)
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Left column from top to bottom: (39) The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (1996) / (40)The Day He Arrives (2011)
Right column from top to bottom: (41) Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013) / (42) Ji-geum-eun-mat-go-geu-ddae-neun-teul-li-da [Right Now, Wrong Then] (2015)
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Left column from top to bottom: (43) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002) / (44) Woman Is the Future of Man (2004) / (45) Our Shunhi (2013) / (46) Hahaha (2010)
Right column from top to bottom: (47) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002) / (48) Ja-yu-eui eon-deok [Hill of Freedom] (2014) / (49) Oki’s Movie (2010) / (50) Woman on the Beach (2006)
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Left column from top to bottom: (51) The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (1996) / (52) The Day He Arrives (2011)
Right column from top to bottom: (53) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (54) Tale of Cinema (2005)
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Left column from top to bottom: (55) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) / (56) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002)
Right column from top to bottom: (57) Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) / (58) Woman Is the Future of Man (2004)
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Left column from top to bottom: (59) Woman on the Beach (2006) / (60) Like You Know it All (2009) / (61) Oki’s Movie (2010)
Right column from top to bottom: (62) Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) / (63) The Day He Arrives (2011) / (64) Right Now, Wrong Then (2015)
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Left column from top to bottom: (65) Night and Day (2008) / (66) The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (1996)
Right column from top to bottom: (67) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (68) Hahaha (2010)
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Left column from top to bottom: (69) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) / (70) Oki’s Movie (2010)
Right column from top to bottom: (71) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002) / (72) The Day He Arrives (2011)
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Left column from top to bottom: (73) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) / (74) Tale of Cinema (2005) / (75) Night and Day (2008)
Right column from top to bottom: (76) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002) / (77) The Day a Pig Fell Into the Well (1996) / (78) Tale of Cinema (2005)
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Left column from top to bottom: (79) Night and Day (2008) / (80) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) / (81) Lost in the Mountains (2009) / (82) Woman on the Beach (2006)
Right column from top to bottom: (83) Hill of Freedom (2014) / (84) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (85) Woman Is the Future of Man (2004) / (86) Hahaha (2010)
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Left column from top to bottom: (87) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) / (88) Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013)
Right column from top to bottom: (89) Like You Know it All (2009) / (90) Hill of Freedom (2014)
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Left column from top to bottom: (91) Tale of Cinema (2005) / (92) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998)
Right column from top to bottom: (93) Like You Know it All (2009) / (94) Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013)
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(95) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (96) Night and Day (2008) / (97) Da-reun na-ra-e-seo [In Another Country] (2012)
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Left column from top to bottom: (98) Oki’s Movie (2010) / (99) On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002)
Right column from top to bottom: (100) Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013) / (101) Night and Day (2008)
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Left column from top to bottom: (102) Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (2000) / (103) The Day He Arrives (2011)
Right column from top to bottom: (104) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (105) Woman Is the Future of Man (2004)
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Left column from top to bottom: (106) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (107) Woman on the Beach (2006) / (108) Like You Know it All (2009)
Right column from top to bottom: (109) Night and Day (2008) / (110) In Another Country (2012) / (111) Hahaha (2010)
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(112) The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) / (113) Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2013) / (114) Our Shunhi (2013)
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(115) Night and Day (2009) / (116) Like You Know it All (2009)
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(117) Oki’s Movie (2010)
Originally published as “Motifs de Hong Sang-soo,” débordements, 18 February 2018.