Trying too hard

It felt like the movie was trying too hard to be deep . When there arent any explicit scenes on the screen that take up a majority of the attention, all we get is monotonous and dull dialogue that points to some overarching metaphor that they try to pull in. Its okay to put out a purely trashy naughty film, but nope gotta also sprinkle in some artsy meaning in to the film...I guess? Starting from that odd dialogue when Myeong Seon meets Gi Jun for the first time and the discussion oddly goes to hands. What did you notice about me? My hands? You studied my hands? Then Myeong Seon compares Gi Jun's hands to that painting from da Vinci. And then all the hyperfixation of hands begins. Camera angles at Gi Jun's hands getting undressed and dressed. Hands clenching and unclenching in nervousness. He uses his hands nervously to cover his nakedness but Myeong Seon constantly tells him to put his hands away repetitively during the photoshoot. When Myeong Seon is on top of him to get a head shot of Gi Jun's face, he flicks his hand away from the shot. Myeong Seon had mentioned previously that he doesnt heavily edit his photos. It's supposed to be natural. But all we are seeing is dictated postures. Towards the end of the movie they hit you over the head with a close up of Mona Lisa's hands, the infamous painting he mentioned at the start. You can know a lot about a person from the hands. Gi Jun's hands is soft like the painting he says. But Myeong Seon chooses to ignore it and flicks it away and that's how he treats their affair. He does not care if Gi Jun is already in a relationship with someone else. He is aloof and mean and he knows it and purposefully so. He chooses to keep a distance and tries not to get too involved. At the end of the movie when he tries to look for a photo of Gi Jun and finds it tucked away in a book, you can tell it is heavily edited. Blemishes are erased. It isnt natural but posed. When Myeong meets Gi Jun's look-alike, Jung Hyun, you can tell he has regrets now that the roles are reversed. This man looks like Gi Jun but he is strong in personality and demeanor. He is not soft. The professional camera isnt used on this look-alike. You see Myeong Seon using a 35mm film camera when he unexpectedly runs into a sleeping Jung Hyun in the woods taking candor shots of the "fake" Gi Jun. Myeong Seon is also shown using a poloraid to get raw and imperfect instant photos of Jung Hyun passed out on their bed. When he gets intimate with Jung Hyun, it ocassionally shifts the camera to first person pov which hadnt happen before with Gi Jun when he was trying so hard to keep space and distance as photographer and subject. Perspective has changed as Myeong Seon is trying to reclaim those feelings. Then the mystery continues: Is Gi Jun and Jung Hyung the same person? Overall, it didnt matter to me cause I didnt care to know. All this got clouded by boring dialogue with not much effort with character development and a weak plot.

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