Written and Directed by: Hong Sang-soo
Grass is a film set in a cafe, where a writer tries to write and is eavesdropping on conversations around for material. The film is essentially an anthology of some conversations that happen around her. It's classic Hong Sang-soo - minimalist setting, film centred around conversations, long shots and a lot of smoking. This film, or even some of other Hong Sang-soo films, operate on this level where he doesn't make you emotionally invest in the characters. It's more on an observational level. And I feel like this story is a perfect premise for his kind of storytelling, where the character is observing people around. It's almost always like this to me. This doesn't mean that his films don't hit you, some bits stay with you and make you wonder - especially if you're an artist yourself. Almost all the flaws of his characters are that those obsessed artists are easily prone to.
This reminded me of Coffee and Cigarettes, although the conversations in this film are tonally dark - characters accuse each other of being responsible of bad things. The only breather we get is when the characters take smoke breaks. One thing that I like about this film is how honest the characters are, in conversations. It makes you want to be that honest with yourself and reflect. I love the ending where she says that she prefers eavesdropping from a distance rather than being part of the conversation - it says a lot about who she is, and how artists can be.
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