Right Now, Wrong Then (2015)

Memorable, crazy movie

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I went in with low expectations, based on reviews I read, because I couldn't get in for the movie I was actually planning to watch. But it turned out to be one of the more satisfying movies I was able to catch at MAMI 2015. It's a little love story, sort of, told twice. A famous director of art-house cinema is killing time in a sleepy Korean town by visiting the one local attraction, a Palace turned into a museum. A scheduling mix has caused him to reach a day early for a planned lecture at the local film festival (yea, lot of self-referential stuff). He chats up a young woman who has given up a modeling career to become an artist. The events that follow unfold over the course of the day and the next, until his lecture and return to Seoul.There are subtle variations in how events unfold causing the male protagonist to fall flat on his face in the first telling ('Wrong then') but coming to a more fulfilling culmination in the second sequence ('Right now'). He's a cad, but the second time around, turns out to be a lovable one.Don't have too many expectations, and you will find a sweet movie.

Right Now, Wrong Then is a film of two distinct halves. In 2 days of the life of a filmmaker, Ham Cheon-soo, in town a day early for a screening of his latest work at a local film festival. He meets a younger woman, Yoon Hee-Jeong, and immediately falls for her. She's an artist, and he views and comments on her work, then they go out to dinner where they drunkenly bear their souls. It results in an invitation to a friend's small party where a revelation embarrasses Ham to the point where they part ways on a sour note. He attends his film to a small crowd, conducts a hungover Q&A, and retires, walking away from the town for good. Roll title card "Right Now" rather than "Right Then." The film literally repeats from the beginning, erasing the first half. Like Groundhog Day but only a once-over, we get every scene again but from a slightly different wishful approach.This second time the couple are honest, unlike the first time where Ham tries too hard to impress and Yoon retreats. Again, they fall in love, but given Ham admits to already being married, their feelings are mutual and emotional without being sexual. He may embarrass himself once more at the aforementioned dinner, but it does not result in a cruel parting, instead drawing them closer. It's a quaint experiment given the relaxed tone. The first half on its own is not a movie, and neither is the second. They're co-dependent to give the narrative meaning, but it's far from cinematic in tone. It's a filmmaker's revisionism of what could have been a perfect evening had the characters acted suitably. It's honest, rather than romantic – though the chemistry still bubbles in the air – and it's utterly bittersweet, in a similar vein to Before Sunrise, but strictly not Before Sunset. It's my first film from Korean director Hong Sang-soo and ostensibly from his fans and critics, Right Now Wrong Then is firmly his style – including the Woody Allen-esque romance between an older creative similar to the director himself, and a pretty younger woman. The atmosphere is very modest with simple photography, though Sang-soo does punctuate some scenes with careful zooms. It's very easy-going filmmaking, and its concept makes the second half easier to watch because you know exactly where it's heading as it retraces steps while you have a sharp eye out for the subtle changes that make all the differences, but it doesn't beg you to keep an eye on every detail. Those differences aren't grandstanding though the narrative is clearly motivated by them. Sometimes a scene will repeat its approach entirely despite the previous scene being radically revised. It's trying to be very nuanced rather than having a 'sliding doors/butterfly effect' where causality makes the universe shift places. Instead, the outcome isn't much different but the overall feeling is utterly converted. It's all down to the performances of its two leads, Jeong Jae-Yeong and Kim Min-Hee, to create that tone with their chemistry, who were most likely shooting both halves back to back, location by location. In both halves, Ham is still a jerk with a kind of irritating laugh, but all the characters are deeply human even if Sang-soo doesn't peel back their layers every time. There's a big heart buried in its very slight execution. However, Right Now Wrong Then is not necessarily about how honesty is a better policy – though Ham's harsh analysis of Hee-Jeong's art in the second half remains a sting that takes a long time to settle – but it's about how it's possible to love again. In this case, love doesn't have to be a complete turbulous affair, but it can still be a fulfilling and life-affirming night if approached accordingly.8/10

Hong Sang-soo's 'Hill of Freedom' was my pick of last year's London Film Festival, as a short comedy about a Japanese man arriving in Seoul, searching for his loved one. Another year and another fish- out-of-water love story comes from Hong for 2015, in what has become quite a familiar pattern of drunken tales of love over alcohol.To start, you may be confused that you got the film title wrong. The screen fills with 'Right Then, Wrong Now' as director Ham is stuck with little to do in a Suwon, visiting to introduce his film at the local film festival. Spying an attractive, young lady, he starts small talk with her, discovering she's an artist. Moving the conversation about banana milk along, the share a coffee before moving to her studio, out for sushi, ending at her friend's cafe for some further late night beverages. The story comes to an end half- way through, only for the screen to now fill with the film's actual title, 'Right Now, Wrong Then', and the story is played out all over again. Now, I've never see 'Sliding Doors', and I've never thought about how different my life would be if I had seen it, much like the character's experience resulting from a missed Tube - largely because I know my life would be much the same had I seen 'Sliding Doors', apart from now writing this sentence. But that's sort of how this film pans out: how different would things have been if you'd taken a different approach. It's probably better, therefore, to compare it more to Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 'Serpent's Path/Eyes of the Spider'.Here, Hong takes the same basic premise, the same characters, but takes a different direction, creating two stories out of one. The first half, 'Right Then...' shows the couple hit it off early doors, with romance developing between the two as the day goes on and the alcohol drowns. However, revelations when introducing her famous new 'friend' Ham to her group of friends make Hee-jeong suddenly feel cheated, with the evening coming to an abrupt end. The second part, 'Right Now...' sees a slow start between the couple, with honest and open comments coming from Ham about his wife and children and critique of her artwork. That out of the way, she has no expectations of him, though gradually she warms to him, with strong feelings developing by the end. This, therefore, is the same film played out twice, arriving at a different conclusion. Some might say that this film is like Hong's whole career, with a slightly older male (a teacher, a director, etc.) falling for a slightly younger female (a student, novice artist, etc.), played out with a quirky gimmick and lots of long discussions over alcohol throughout, leading to many inebriated revelations. Indeed, you could say that 'Right Now, Wrong Then' has no gimmick, as all Hong's films are similar anyway - making the same characters and scenario simply more of the same, it's just this time he's been more obvious about it. There is some truth in this, though this is probably something that could be pointed at most directors. While his films are of a similar theme, each has its own charm and level of enjoyment. Whether it's 'Hahaha's' still photos or 'Hill of Freedom's' lack of chronological letters, he adds a little post-modern twist of originality to each of his films, and serve as an example of how a different approach can create a different film.There's more morality to 'Right Now, Wrong Then', with the humour more subtle than the broken English of 'Hill of Freedom'. In the first half, Ham isn't fully honest with Hee-jeong, or indeed himself, and the relationship develops, only for it to be abruptly ended on a hint of truth being revealed. The second half sees him more open from the start with Hee-jeong, and by the end, she is sad to see him leave, left with only the whimsy of what might have been (awwwwww), and a much happier conclusion for both. With his style of film-making, with lots of dialogue over long takes, the actors need to have a good rapport and sense of believability within them, and here Jeong Jay-yeong and Kim Min-hee deliver enough of this. The first half sees them carefree and in good humour, while in the second they're more sombre and cold. The similar scenario of both makes this obviously a little repetitive, and slightly over-long, compared to the shorter and snappier 'Hill of Freedom'. But with this, Hong has created a strong addition to his distinctive brand of cinema, getting it right in the end. But, taking the moral high ground or not, either way Ham sleeps alone...

This film won the Golden Leopard (Best Film award) at the 2015 Locarno Film Festival. By mistake, a film director arrives in a town a day early to attend a screening of one of his films. With time to kill, he strikes up a conversation with an aspiring painter who he meets in a temple and they spend the rest of the day together. Although he finds her attractive, she is considerably younger than him and neither of them are particularly outgoing. A bit like Sliding Doors or Kieslowski's Blind Chance, the film splits into two different versions of what happens over the next 24 hours but, unlike those two films, the outcome depends not so much on chance but on how the main character chooses to behave. Any further info would inevitably contain spoilers so let's just say that it reminded me of some of Erich Roemer's films and is a sort of moral tale. Whether or not you will like Right Now, Wrong Then will probably depend on what you think of the dialogue, which pretty much dominates (there is not much action and little in the way of visuals or soundtrack). In my view, it is almost a really good film but the script needed sharpening up, as my attention started wandering off more than once. Perhaps a bit more humour and a slightly faster pace would have helped, However, it is a thought-provoking film and I found it ultimately satisfying when it ended, which is why I give it 7/10.