Ad-Lib Night
For those who were fans of this director’s first
film, “This Charming Girl”, they will likely find this one to their liking
as well as it shares much of the same characteristics and style of that
film. And for those who found “This Charming Girl” rather slow and pointless,
their reaction to Ad-Lib Night may be the similar. Director Lee Yoon-ki
provides us with small subtle enigmatic slices of life, that are neither
particularly dramatic nor comic – they are just there and that is perhaps
their beauty. It seems almost courageous to make films like this these
days – especially in a film culture as rabidly commercial as the one in
present day Korea. There is nothing here that can possibly attract a mass
audience and probably not even a marginal one. The movies feel negligible,
nearly without a plot and with hard to decipher characters – and yet they
have a fascination of their own and have gathered a small but ardent group
of admirers.
In an outdoor park, two young men approach
a girl (Han Hyo-ju) and ask her if she is Myeong-eun, a girl that they
knew from years ago and who they have been looking for. She convinces the
boys that she is not, but because of her resemblance to Myeong-eun they
ask a favor of her. Myeong-eun’s father is on his death bed and they would
like her to pretend to be the man’s long vanished daughter so that he can
die in peace. For unknown reasons she agrees and travels with them back
to their small rural town. And very little happens. Friends and family
of the dying man have gathered in his house waiting through his final hours
and they drink, fight, talk and eat – the girl hovers about but she remains
a very enigmatic person – you wonder if she could in fact really be the
daughter. It is hard to say exactly why you stay with this film, but somehow
you have to.
My rating for this film: 7.5
Reviewed: 02/07