THE POWER OF KANGWON PROVINCE: A Sophomore Effort that Solidifies Hong Sang-soo’s Signature Style

In rapid succession over the past couple of years, the cinema of Hong Sang-soo has proliferated into the U.S. via theaters and streaming services. My first encounter with Hong’s cinema was the wonderful and biting observational drama Grass in 2019 and since then I’ve steadily reviewed more as they’ve become available. Hong is mighty prolific and to complete his filmography takes some time and dedication, but his movies are genuinely not arduous watches and many of them feature keen observations and neat little structural tricks hidden within the minimalist presentation. While I cannot be considered a devotee to his cinema as others in the film critic circles, I have come across several that I’ve enjoyed. The Power of Kangwon Province, which was released in a new 4K restoration just a month ago, is one of them.

Familiar Faces and Places

This is Hong’s second feature after The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (which, I haven’t seen yet). From the get-go, the director’s trademark excavation of the slight and undefined elements of romantic and platonic relationships, which often weave in and out of each other, is already nearly fully formed here. The film is presented in a two-act split where we see each side of the aftermath of a relationship (affair, really) between Jinsook (Oh Yun-hong) and her ex Sangkwon (Baek Jong-hak) in respective order. They both end up going to Kangwon Province (also known as Gangwon) for a getaway with friends and are always on the brink of running into each other.

Jinsook falls into the same trap as her last relationship with Sangkwon when she meets a cute police officer. Her attraction to married men frustrates her friends and makes the trip a mix of both breezy sightseeing and emotionally charged dinner arguments. Like with most Hong films, location and conversation are inextricably linked and follow a pattern. Arguments are usually reserved for scenes with food and drink, philosophical conversations take place outdoors, and awkward talks on love naturally happen in domiciles and hotels. These eventually become the framework from which Hong examines Jinsook and Sangkwon’s retrospective feelings for each other allowing us to imagine what the couple must have been like together through their navigation of post-breakup life separately.

Post-Relationship Malaise

The very basic elements of Hong’s movies are layered as a facade covering much deeper commentary on human relationships that become larger than the sum of their seemingly simplistic parts. Sometimes it doesn’t work quite as well (see Hill of Freedom), but here the structural play between Jinsook’s storyline and Sangkwon’s elicits a familiar sense of anxiety and listlessness following a breakup. In relaying the same venues and restaurants to us twice, where we get hints and pieces of Jinsook’s storyline littered throughout Sangkwon’s, the movie toys with our consciousness of their proximity to each other.

On the subway, they are both only a single train-car away from each other and while we don’t see Jinsook’s face in the scene, we instantly recognize the other passengers on the train and as we are goaded into looking for Jinsook – and suddenly, her unmistakable striped shirt appears towards the bottom left of the screen. Hong turns us into a willing participants in the movie’s game and simulates the phenomenon of feeling like you’re looking for and mistakenly seeing your ex everywhere. After that first glimpse on the subway, it becomes hard not to look for her throughout the rest of the movie.

Conclusion

The Power of Kangwon Province’s mixture of routine human interactions built around a playful narrative structure works delightfully. This same sort of formula would define the base of much of Hong’s career for the next two decades and counting. While most filmmakers’ early films are subtle hints of latter endeavors, where the ideas are later blown up into much larger budgets and much more convoluted narratives, Hong’s cinema has incorporated new ideas while remaining almost impossibly true to its early roots.

The Power of Kangwon Province is available to rent and stream online via Grasshopper Film website and the Film at Lincoln Center.

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