Romance Joe is a captivatingly complex debut feature from Tiger competitor Lee Kwang-Kuk. By Edward Lawrenson
Towards the end of
Romance Joe, the debut feature by South Korean writer-director Lee Kwang-Kuk, a character says: “Everyone has a story to tell.” It’s a conviction that is at the heart of this engaging puzzle-piece of a film, and one that Lee himself shares: “Everyone in the world lives in their own universe, within which they have their stories. Everywhere you look – here, for instance,” says Lee, gesturing at the many other delegates engaged in conversations on the second floor of de Doelen – “you see people talking about their lives, giving each other part of their stories. I want to introduce that feel into my own film.”
In fact,
Romance Joe is a playful tangle of stories. Named after a despairing film director who wants to commit suicide, the movie follows stories that unfold within stories in a complex yet engaging Russian doll-like structure inspired by Escher’s famous image of one hand drawing another. At key moments, a white rabbit appears; a reference, Lee agrees, that brings to mind Lewis Carroll, another artist fascinated by the compulsion to tell stories. “That detail occurred during filming,” says Lee. “Because the storyline is a little like
Alice in Wonderland, we put a rabbit in it.”
Mostly, though, the film’s structure closely followed Lee’s screenplay. The film’s elegant visual style – he shoots in long, fluid, unbroken takes – was developed during the writing process. “I was thinking about the conversation between the camera and the actors while writing the screenplay. I don’t rehearse my actors. When I arrive at locations, that’s when I plan out specifically what I wanted to do. We film the first take, and if there are details I want to change, I film another one.”
A former collaborator of Hong Sang-Soo, Lee credits the South Korean as an influence: “He’s an example and inspiration, and he’s provided guidance and advice on earlier projects – though not this one.” The fact that Hong won a Tiger in 1997 for
The Day a Pig Fell into the Well adds to the “honour” Lee feels about being in Rotterdam. “Plus, I like the atmosphere here,” says the director, once again nodding in the direction of the other festival guests in the de Doelen; a hall full of people telling their stories.
More about Romance Joe here.