Ad-Lib Night
 
Director: Lee Koon-yi
Year: 2006
Rating: 7.5
Country: Korea
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 commercial as the one in 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.





This is a very quiet low budget independent Korean film that all takes place in the span of 24-hours in which not a lot happens. But it slowly pulls you into the authenticity of the situation and the dialogue. Though the opening premise is rather absurd, it works once you get past that. It revolves around a family and friends waiting in a house for a member of the family to die from cancer. The dying man's last wish was to see his daughter Myung-eun once more before he dies. She left home ten years previously to go to high school in Seoul and basically vanished. Her mother passed away three years before and she made no appearance. Grief, family squabbles, memories play out as the night slowly passes. Into this though they bring a stranger.



Three of the men went to Seoul and spent a good amount of time looking for his daughter but all they have is an old photo of her and some hazy memories of long ago. Why she left, why she stayed away is a mystery to all of them. In a public space, they find a woman waiting for someone who strongly resembles her. They pester her into admitting it, but she denies it. Finally, they ask her if she is willing to pretend to be the daughter and come see the old man before he passes on. She is hesitant - partly because she doesn't quite trust their story - but also because it doesn't feel right. Lying to a dying man. But finally, she agrees and goes off with them. One of them used to date Myung-eun but they were just teenagers and he can't really recall what she looked like.



If this sounds like the makings of a comedy or a suspenseful tale, it isn't. It is generally somber, slow and intimate. The large family is waiting for her and there is disagreement whether to go through with this. It doesn't really seem to matter since the man is morphined up to the gills and is basically in a coma. There is always a suspicion nagging at you that maybe she really is the daughter - or just a loose soul - or a ghost. It isn't till the end that you find out. This family feels very Korean - not that I really know - but they bicker, eat barbecue, cook soup, complain about how salty it is, get a little drunk, tell the younger ones to respect their elders and wait for him to die.



A man they seem to care about though a few admit they are looking forwards to his inheritance. The Girl just wanders about - being ignored by most - having little to say. The actress Han Hyo-joo plays the character all bottled up - nearly unable to express emotion - and near the end we find out why. But there are no climatic moments - it just ends as quietly as it begins. It is directed by Lee Yoon-ki who has a few other small independent films to his credit. His choice of framing and shots is immaculate as he goes back and forth between close-ups and long shots.