Ep1035: IndieSeen: IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE (2021) / THE NOVELIST'S FILM (2022) - Movie Reviews

Kicking the Seat

Ian and Sujewa get deja vu with Hong Sang-soo with their double-feature IndieSeen review of In Front of Your Face and The Novelist’s Film!

The guys had initially planned to only discuss one of the movies, but while doing some extra homework, Ian discovered that the prolific South Korean auteur had essentially made the same movie twice, within one year of each other. Hence, this bizarre journey into truly independent (and highly improvised) cinema. Both films share a high-level plot about an artist (one a retired actress, one a novelist) visiting old acquaintances and, through happenstance, getting entrenched in making a movie.

Lee Hye-yeong stars in both films as the respective actress/novelist, and manages to pull off two very compelling and distinct performances. But is she underserved by a script that feels more like a list of prompts rather than the grand human-condition dramas they're billed as?

In this spoilerific discussion, the guys talk about the dangers of loosey-goosey screenwriting; actor versatility; and why it's perfectly reasonable to not trust film critics (except for Ian, of course!).

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Show Links

• Watch the In Front of Your Face trailer.

• Watch the Novelist’s Film trailer.

• Watch Sujewa's latest film, Cosmic Disco Detective Rene for free on YouTube!

• Rent The Secret Society for Slow Romance (the predecessor to Cosmic Disco Detective Rene).

• Keep up with all of Sujewa's projects.

• Follow Sujewa on X.