With his new film NIGHT AND DAY, Korean director and writer Hong Sangsoo, who won the best director prize at the 2007 Mardel Mata International Film Festival in Argentina with WOMAN ON THE BEACH, brings to Berlin a deftly produced work, one that is grounded in reality and is driven by simple and spontaneous dialogue.

NIGHT AND DAY focuses on human relationships, interactions and cross-pollination. The film also deals with the experience of travelling and the different levels of struggle found in relationships and how best to heal them.

Sung-nam (Kim Yeong-Ho) is a Korean artist who wins a national competition but flees Seoul for France, fearing he will be hounded by the state for a pardonable crime. In France, Sung-nam finds himself trapped between three women: his wife back in Seoul, an art student studying in Paris and his ex-girlfriend, a North Korean student. Sung-nam eventually returns to Seoul, but through him Sangsoo tells his audience some truths about relationships. He challenges the cliché of true love and in its place offers a thesis on what people can become as partners.

Sangsoo's cast makes the movie believable and pleasurable. They prove by their depth of character interpretation that Sangsoo worked brilliantly with them. One of the film's other pluses is Sangsoo's suggestive, rather than literal, portrayal of mature cinematic sex scenes.

NIGHT AND DAY would have been tighter without some of the repetitive dialogue and action. There are also some problems with details: Sung-nam's source of income is never established. He embarks on a spending spree in Paris, an expensive city for a jobless immigrant.

Even so, NIGHT AND DAY is a story that grows on you as you watch along. The movie's mechanics are well-oiled, culminating in an achievement of contemporary filmmaking.

by Shaibu Husseini