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Are you curious about Korean drinking culture? Then watch HONG Sang-soo’s films. Most definitely, all you need to know is in his films. All the sorts of situations that you could ever meet at a drinking party are demonstrated in HONG’s films. First, Koreans usually have get-togethers at bars. It means you will drink at any meeting. Take Hahaha (2009) for example. Mun-gyeong (KIM Sang-kyung) and Jung-sik (YU Jun-sang) drink Makgeolli( Korean rice wine) and reminisce about what happened in the previous summer. Whether they are friends or lovers or colleagues, HONG’s characters never meet at a café. They meet up at a bar or perhaps somewhere else, but somehow they always end up at a bar. Characters in The Day He Arrives (2011) are another example. They look to be related with each other through various means, but really they just wander around the bars and that is their main connection.

The characters often act out of drunkenness. This is obvious in HONG’s early films. The scene where Hyo-seob acted violently in The Day A Pig Fell into A Well (1996) is unforgettable. The Power of Kangwon Province (1998) is also remarkable. In that, a woman hugging a drunken man at a bar is the official poster. It is a scene we can often witness in real life. Men in the film drink wildly as if they were born to be drunk. The situation becomes awkward sometimes. In Like You Know It All (2008), Gyeong-nam (KIM Tae-woo) goes to Jeju Island to give a special lecture. While he drinks with students after the lecture, the get-together is jeopardized by drunken behavior due to sensitive social order and unexpected remarks. Situations after people drink in Woman is The Future of Man (2004) and Nobody’s Daughter Haewon (2012) are not very different. Because the younger person is supposed to turn their heads to the side when drinking with an older person in Korea, uncomfortable situations can take place.

While drunken behavior in HONG Sangsoo’s films has to do with realism, My Sassy Girl is a bit more fantastic. Let’s recall what she (JUN Ji-hyun) did in the subway. She vomited on a stranger, which served as the beginning of a romantic relationship. The chubby girl (KOH Sui-hee) in Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) jumped and kicked a side mirror of a car parked on the street. On the other hand, OH Dae-su (CHOI Min-shik) in Oldboy (2003) and Jeong-won (HAN Suk-kyu) in Christmas in August (1998) were taken to the police station. This also happens normally and Korean people are generally broad-minded about public drunks. “Let’s drink to death!” is the motto of many people. Once they drink, they don’t stop until they can go no further. Some people start drinking in the middle of the day like in NOH Young-seok’s Daytime Drinking (2009) and others lose consciousness like those in the ‘red room’ of Turning Gate (2002).

A drinking party in Korea is not simply for fun but is a chance to be frank. Drinking sometimes offers an opportunity for a big event. Some Koreans speak their true feelings, start a relationship and confirm friendships. The man and the woman in A Moment To Remember (2004) bet destiny over a small glass of soju (Korean distilled spirit). In this sense, liquor is probably a paramount remedy to everyday life for Koreans.