MOTEL CACTUS

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MOTEL CACTUS

Nov 12, 2019

Writer by Pierce Conran
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1997 | 90 MIN | Romance

DIRECOR PARK Ki-yong

CAST JUNG Woo-sung, JIN Hee-gyeong, PARK Shin-yang, LEE Mi-yeon

RELEASE DATE October 25, 1997

CONTACT Uno Film

After working as a producer for PARK Kwang-su on To The Starry Island (1993) and JANG Sun-woo’s Cinema on the Road (1995), PARK Ki-yong made his directorial debut in 1997 with the omnibus feature Motel Cactus. Featuring stars such as JUNG Woo-sung and PARK Shin-yang in early roles, the film is also notable for being shot by the celebrated WONG Kar-wai collaborator Christopher DOYLE and produced by TCHA Sung-jai, who would go on to produce Memories of Murder (2003) by BONG Joon-ho, who served as this film’s co-writer.

Four stories of passion or failed connections between men and women take place in room 407 of Motel Cactus. In the first story, Hyun-joo (JIN Hee-gyeong) rents the room to celebrate her birthday with her boyfriend Min-koo (JUNG Woo-sung). In between repeated carnal unions, Hyun-joo is happy and feels free, but Min-koo becomes increasingly withdrawn. In the next segment, Joon-ki (HAN Eung-su) is a student making a film. The exacting youth repeatedly complains to management until his actress Seo-kyung (KIM Seunghyun) arrives. When their cameraman doesn’t arrive they start without him, but it isn’t long until Seo-kyung reveals something to Joon-ki that upsets him.

Hyun-joo from the first sequence returns for the next segment, very drunk in tow with her equally inebriated partner, the salaryman Suk-tae. The pair engage in a messy late-night tryst before silently parting ways. Suk-tae remains for the final segment, which sees him reunite with an old flame temporarily in town for a funeral. The pair repeatedly attempt to reconnect, but to no avail.

Omnibuses are a dime a dozen in Korea’s indie film realm, but Motel Cactus is clever to center its stories within a motel room, an important space in Korean society which is not only a secret area for illicit romantic unions, but also a rare private space for youths and adults alike, away from the bustle of the streets and the prying eyes of family, friends and co-workers, none of whom are ever far away.

None of the stories are long enough to give us a clear portrait of the characters within them, but the design of the location, with its loud colors and flowing sheets and the hazy, intimate cinematography by DOYLE are themselves the focus of the film, creating an evocative mood that transcends the separate tales. PARK’s work is less about individuals than it is about the search for connections in a modern world.

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