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Filmmaker KIM Jong-kwan who released his feature Worst Woman last year after a 6 year break returns this year with The Table. The film deals with 4 couples who each spend a brief moment at the sun-lit window seat of a quiet alley café. The dialogue-driven format is interesting enough, but the film’s attempt to place four publicly acclaimed actresses as the central figures of the story is quite daring. The stories that each character will tell after they leave the café will be published along with the screenplay into a book of the same title. 

Last January 1st, when I was in post-production of Worst Woman, I started writing the screenplay for this film. The fact that this film all started out from my affinity for short films is similar to Worst Woman. It took me 3 days to write the script. When I was done, I realized I could turn it into a film without too much effort. And when the casting happened easier than expected, it became a project I had to make whatsoever. Worst Woman occurs on the street while The Table takes place at a café. These elements are different, but from a creative point-of-view, they are heading in the same direction. I think many people started to understand the kind of stories I am trying to tell through Worst Woman. Likewise, I made The Table in hopes that people see it is a continuation. 

I think there are two episodes in The Table that carry a melodramatic sensibility which are the second episode starring JUNG Eun-chae and JEON Sung-woo, and the fourth episode starring LIM Soo-jung and YEON Woo-jin. Both episodes introduce couples who are naïve and make bad judgment calls. However, one ends happily, while the other one leaves on a melancholy note. 

The first episode introduces an actress (JUNG Yu-mi) and her ex-boyfriend (JEONG Jun-won), but it could be a tale of friendship. Old relationships can still take different life paths after they choose to go their own separate ways. I explored the situations that could come out of this. The one thing I realized while observing actresses up close is that they get attacked as much as they receive the spotlight. And I felt this sense of admiration as well as sympathy from the way they struggled to hold their ground. As a filmmaker, there are times when I also had to contemplate how I should respond to attacks coming from outside. And I thought it would be possible for me to incorporate this into my first episode. 

Usually, when I write ordinary lines, I think of offense and defense. To use these ideas to make interesting lines, I wanted to create a story that focused on their interaction instead of their individual nature. And that’s how I came up with the third episode where HAN Ye-ri and KIM Hye-ok pose as a fake daughter and mother. Luckily actress HAN Ye-ri starred in two of my films as the character Eun-hee. Remember the Eun-hee in Worst Woman who is dubious and continues to put on an act? In that film, I dealt with the idea of creating something. It was about the notion that someone who creates things talk about things that don’t exist, but in fact constantly focuses on the exchange of sincere emotions and thoughts. I wanted to continue this theme in The Table. The four episodes might be different, but I wanted them to evoke a similar impression. 

I guess it’s just my personal taste. Like there are people who continue making action films, I occasionally play with the idea of making something different. But it seems that I am highly influenced by the books and films I come across. Furthermore, women project both strengths and weaknesses due to our social structure. They present a strength derived from situations that force them to become weak or vulnerable. I might have limitations as a male filmmaker, nevertheless, there are things that catch my attention which I want to deal with in my films. 

Not really. I’m usually fond of short stories. The Table was inspired by my love of short stories. There are short stories that span the lifetime of an individual in spite of its concise length, and there are others that show you just a single impression which leads you to expand on your thoughts. This film too exposes a certain side of people, but I anticipated the audience to fill in the blanks of things such as the kind of life they lived and where they are heading for using their own imagination. I use many close-ups in this film, and by magnifying one aspect, the external factors out of frame are not revealed. And it is natural to be curious of what cannot be seen. I hoped the audience would start thinking of the history of a character that precedes and succeeds the film. 

After I made The Table, I was contacted by a publisher who suggested that I write a book which includes the screenplay of The Table and stories surrounding the four main characters. Thanks to this book, I’ve been thinking of the characters in this film: what kind of person they are, what kind of life they lived, etc. This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this after finishing a film. 

I would like to make a brief exploration of the ironies of human affairs using the format of melodrama. I want to discover meaning by scrutinizing the inner contradictions between people. You know how romance is when you’re in a romantic relationship, and your partner sometimes feels like a monster and then it’s you who feels like one. I think it is important for a person to look straight into the face of one’s own shame. I want to talk about these ironic emotions that exist between individuals.