Hong San-soo has made two or three films a year for the last twenty years and all of the ones I have seen (about a third of his output) have been lovely examples of how men and women interact with each other, as friends, lovers, co-workers, etc. and all Hong's films are made with low budgets (usually around $100,000) and minimal crews. Claire's Camera was filmed in Cannes and stars Isabelle Huppert as Claire, a French photographer, and Kim Min-hee as Jeon Manhee, former marketing associate who was fired for reasons her boss won't explain (we find out later that they had the same lover) who meet there and become friends. Much of the film consists of static two-shots with an occasional zoom as we see and hear conversations about work, relationships and personal philosophy, much of which is spoken in English, and see the body language that alludes to things not spoken. Bresson and Rohmer are obvious influences on Hong, though his films are very personal views of art and artists in South Korea.
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