Ha Ha Ha

Two friends, the film director Moon-kyung and the critic Joong-sik, make a decision over drinks: they will only tell each other the good memories. Both of them recently visited the seaside town of Tongyeong. As the stories unfold the viewer notices something: they were there at the same time and met the same people. But they never say this to each other. Hong Sang-soo works with his familiar material: drinking tables, self-satisfied men, repeated situations and zooms. The structure here is particularly sharp; the gap between the two accounts is left to the audience and how much either of them is inventing is never explained. Kim Sang-kyung and Yu Jun-sang play the friends, Moon So-ri the woman in the town. The film won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2010. Who it's for: Viewers who like Hong Sang-soo, narratives that play with structure, and verbal comedy. Who it's not for: Almost nothing happens and the male characters are deliberately unappealing. Anyone unused to Hong's manner will feel the repetition strongly.