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Director LEE Kwang-kuk’s newest, A Matter of Interpretation (released on February 12th) is another film following his debut title Romance Joe (2012) that deals with the blurred line between reality and fantasy. A Matter of Interpretation has a tight composition and interesting cinematic coincidence. With much excitement, KoBiz sat down with LEE to talk about his film.

 

After the invitation of Romance Joe to Rotterdam International Film Festival, this is your second film to be invited. You also have few other international film festivals lined-up.
Although the film is quite complicated in its composition, the audiences seem to follow well and have enjoyed it. The way domestic and international audiences have reacted to the film are similar. At an international film festival screening someone asked me, “what is Korean about this film?” which stayed with me for a long time. I didn’t intend to imply any Korean characteristics in the film, but without realizing it, the note about suicide might have reflected on the current Korean society.

The story within a story in A Matter of Interpretation is a predominent element. Were you pressured to something different from your previous work?
No, I wasn’t pressured. But I think the director must have fun in order to make an enjoyable film. So I tried my best to enjoy the process. Although the stakes are high, I’m a curious person and am always looking to trying something new.

 

Your film is about a struggling actress who runs out of the theater when a play gets cancelled, and meets a policeman to talk about her dreams. How did you come up with the story?
First, I thought of the image of an old car that became deserted in a wide field. Who would be in that car and why would the car be there? Those were some of the questions I asked myself. Since the trunk of a car is usually related to crimes in genre films and thought that the space could be used to provoke curiosity. When I was writing the scenario, I thought about events that could happen over two days and a night. The ambiguity of the time was intentional.

How did you come to select the right actors for your characters?
Actress SHIN Dong-mi and I wanted to do another project after Romance Joe. As I was writing the scenario, I thought about her as the protagonist. As for the detective, I thought of YU Jun-sang naturally. The hardest person to cast was the boyfriend of the protagonist, Woo-yeon. I had some contemplation over a few names and ended up with KIM Kang-hyun because I liked his young boy image. Since SHIN has sharp features, I wanted someone who was more round for the opposing character to even it out. YU is somewhat in the middle.

 

Why did you come to talk about dreams?
As I started to make films I realized I thought a lot about dreams. When my father was sick, there were many incidents where he was confused between dreams and reality. I think that made me started to look at dreams and reality more closely.

When talking about dreams, you could say that you are talking about hope.
After finishing a film, I’m back to where I started. I have to begin all over again. But I still wanted to continue making films and that was reflected in my film. A Matter of Interpretation also carries that will to work as a director. It’s a message to myself to cheer me on and to reconfirm the promise with myself.

Do you have plans for the next project?
I would like to start shooting this fall. This film started with the image of a woman walking down the street. I’m not sure how it will evolve.