The Power of Kangwon Province

The Power of Kangwon Province
Theatrical poster
Hangul	강원도의 힘
Hanja	江原道의 힘
Revised Romanization	Gangwondoui him
McCune–Reischauer	Kangwŏndoŭi him
Directed by	Hong Sang-soo
Written by	Hong Sang-soo
Starring	Baek Jong-hak Oh Yun-hong
Release date	4 April 1998 (1998-04-04)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	South Korea
Language	Korean

The Power of Kangwon Province (Korean: 강원도의 힘) is the second film by South Korean director Hong Sang-soo. It follows the lives of a man and a woman who have decided to end their affair. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

Three young girls, Jisook, Misun and Eunkyoung take a trip to the mountainous Kangwon Province of South Korea. Jisook has just broken up with another married man, and she is lonely and unhappy with her current situation. They meet a young policeman who shows them around and after a meal where they all get drunk together, Jisook ends up passing out with the policeman in her bed, but not having sex. He is married, but Jisook returns another day to see him and they end up falling-over drunk again.

The second half the film then follows the situation of Sangwon, the married man that Jisook has just broken up with. In a typically symmetrical fashion, after a repeat scene where it becomes apparent that both of them are on the same train, Sangwon also visits the Kangwon Province with a friend and the paths of the two characters cross without them ever meeting there, both of them encountering a couple involved in a murder investigation.

See also

• List of Korean-language films

References

• Kim, Kyung-hyun (2004). "7. New Korean Cinema Auteurs: Too Early/Too Late: Temporality and Repetition in Hong Sang-su's Films: The Power of Kangwon Province". The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema. Durham and London: Duke University Press. pp. 217–223. ISBN 0-8223-3267-1.

External links

• IMDb entry