On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate

An out of work actor goes to the provinces to visit a friend. He meets a woman there, they sleep together, he leaves. In another city he meets another woman on a train and repeats almost the same actions in almost the same sentences. That repetition is precisely Hong Sang-soo's method. The two halves are not identical but they are related, and how little the man knows himself becomes visible in the resemblance. The legend the title refers to says the same thing: in the story of the turning gate, a snake has to pass through a gate it cannot come back through. Kim Sang-kyung leads. The fixed camera, the long scenes around a table and the drinking are the arrangement his later films would settle into, already assembled here. The difficulty is that there is almost no incident, most of the characters are not pleasant people, and the film never once defends its protagonist. Who it is for: viewers who follow Hong Sang-soo and like narratives built on repetition. Who it is not for: anyone waiting for development and resolution.