Saenghwalui balgyeon AKA On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002) FotW #307

[Cocoa]

Film of the Week #307: Saenghwalui balgyeon AKA On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (2002)



Summary:
Actor Kyung Soo leaves Seoul to visit an old classmate. The reunion with his friend does not amount to much, but the trip does lead to some romantic encounters.

Potential Spoilers

He gets involved with two women, first a young college student whom he leaves without a moment's thought and then a woman whom he deems his fated partner. As Kyung Soo becomes increasingly invested in this second relationship, he begins to notice certain coincidences and similarities that recall past pairings, blurring his conception of exactly which woman, which relationship, he is so desperately holding on to.

#489 on 500<400, with 194 checks.
Nominated by joachimt and xianjiro.
On IMDb
On iCM

From the 500<400 results

#489(NEW) Saenghwalui balgyeon (2002)
[On the Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate]

Directed by: Sang-soo Hong
(258.34 Pts, 8 Votes) , Top 1–10–50: 0–1–3
History: 489←1435←8684←5280←1496←NA←NA

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ICheckMovies: 185 Checks , 25 Favourites , 3 Official lists

List of Voters:

connordenney (5)
Traveller (39)
rnilsson19 (48)
cayado-coro (102)
perceval (130)
Lonewolf2003 (NA)
XxXApathy420XxX (335)
Perception de Ambiguity (4105)

This movie fits the current Korean Challenge.



Here is a schedule of all the FotWs.

[joachimt]

Sorry for nominating this. I didn't really like it. 5/10
I watched it around the deadline of the FotW-noms for this month and I already submitted my votes.

[sebby]

Also a 5/10 from me. I understand why others like it, but I far prefer more recent work from Sang-soo Hong to his first handful of films.

[72aicm]

Same here. Worst Hong on the list.

[Cocoa]

Don't feel sorry for nominating this, joachimt. If you hadn't nominated it, then there would have been a bunch of 1-vote ties for which film to use to represent the Korean Challenge. It feels awkward whenever I put a film on the schedule that receives only one vote.

[Cocoa]

Just watched this. I have no positive feelings for this film. It's on the DtC list, so based on the reactions in this thread, I expect this film to drop in rank on that list once it's up for a vote again.

[Armoreska]

well I liked it better than the other movies of this kind. not sure what the point was tho

[rnilsson19]

I find Hong's alcohol-soaked riffs on male sexual politics endlessly fascinating. This is one of my absolute favourites of his.