We started shooting Shades of the Heart in late February 2019 and finished it roughly two weeks later with a ten-day filming schedule. It made its debut at the JEONJU IFF that same year, so you could say that it was finished pretty quickly. It was a brief journey that was filled with a lot of pleasant memories. The shoot itself was quite tense—nothing was easy—but I felt a sense of creative satisfaction every day. Not long afterward, we had the first screening at the JEONJU IFF, which was like a weight off our shoulders. After the endless tunnel of the pandemic, we managed to release it in some places. It was when we were doing the opening promotion in Japan in 2022, that I really felt like I was bringing my journey with the film to an official conclusion. Compared with the process of actually filming and completing it, the process of meeting the public seemed to take a while, but that was also an opportunity to slowly experience a lot of meaningful things through the film.

The origins of the film relate closely to Worst Woman, which made its debut at the JEONJU IFF. I made Shades of the Heart as an extension of Worst Woman and The Table, where I was carrying on the same questions and asking new ones. It’s a dialogue-based piece that focuses on themes of creation and makes use of the same spaces, but I was also able to experiment with different forms. A little while has passed since we made it, and if I think back now on what Shades of the Heart means to me, I would say it was an opportunity to write a cinematic letter in the most intimate way. When we were filming it, when we were bringing it before the public, and even now, as I prepare my other projects, I feel like I might have the opportunity to try something else with the same aims as Shades of the Heart.

To me, creation is a stone to be laid to build a bridge. Sometimes it’s a long film, sometimes it’s a short one, but you’re finding a path of creation as you lay down the stepping stones with creations that have different aims. That’s why we need to try different things with different goals as we seek out our own paths. There are also things we can only attempt at a certain moment. While I was making this film, I was able to ask the most basic questions, and it provided me with the most solid stepping stones on my creative path. Like a cute little pebble or a firm stone foothold, Shades of the Heart is part of the house I’m building. KIM Jongkwan

Worst Woman (2016), The Table (2016), Josée (2020)

Walking Along the Story’s Entrance
Shades of the Heart is a film that is better suited to the analysis of its form than an attempt to understand it along narrative lines. In its thematic focus on the relationship between creators and storytelling, the format of a dialogue between two people, and the fantastical elements that loosely connect dreams with reality, the film comes across like a collection of themes and styles that director Kim Jongkwan has long been focusing his attention on and exploring. Given the director’s characteristically delicate stylistic approach, it seems more oriented toward an assemblage than a synthesis, in the sense of bringing together disparate things with a focus on one single meaning.

The film’s protagonist, a writer named Changseok (Yeon Woojin), is distinctive in that he is more of a listener than a speaker. The film unfolds as it shares the stories of the people he encounters, and as a result, it gives the impression of the main character changing from one chapter to the next. It illustrates the process of Changseok assembling these different stories as he passes through them, and the character is clearly an active projection of Kim Jongkwan’s own perspective and attitude as a creator. “There are no stories that are written,” he has said. “They’re simply the things I’ve experienced, but with a perspective there. Having a perspective is basically the same thing as writing.” Through the character of Changseok, the director focuses on the nature of stories and filmmaking as a creative act. Staring blankly at the empty spaces that the characters leave behind, the camera leads us to imagine the many stories and moments that might have once filled them.

The film is also one that potentially affords the most beautiful experiences when viewed on a screen. As the sun sets, it observes serenely and at length as the characters’ cigarettes burn through and darkness fully descends. Such is the magic that the film succeeds in capturing—a striking moment that perceives the very essence of film as an art form of light, darkness, and time. LEE Eunsun

Production Vol Media (jennaku@gmail.com, volmedia@volmedia.kr)
Distribution Atnine Film (atnine@at9film.com)
International Sales kt alpha (intlsales@kt.com)

2022 Wildflower Film Awards Korea Best Cinematography (Nominee)