The Tamesis
I knew the story had to start there because then the “comeback” was complete – BTS wasn’t five out of seven members or three out of seven members. So I knew the real major part of the production was when Jin arrived. But how do we catch it in advance? So that’s when I came up with the idea of giving the members their own cameras. As you mentioned, they’re constantly recording themselves, but they’re usually using their phones, which to me is a very specific visual language. I wanted a little more texture. I wanted it to feel like your mom or your uncle picked up an old video camera and filmed your vacation or something. So I gave them each a camera and some members took more pictures than others. There’s a bit of a learning curve with the technology, but they’re starting to get into it. These are some of my favorite shots in the movie.
In your work you often tell stories from the past; return It’s just set in the present. As a filmmaker, what would happen if we didn’t have the benefit of hindsight as a storytelling tool?
You know, a lot of directors have a God complex and they want to control everything, and I think that’s why I gravitate towards stories from the past. It allowed me to take control of a story that had already happened and make it into a Bao Nguyen film. So with this one, it was a leap of faith. I don’t know what to expect. I could prepare myself in a way, do the research, observe what was done to them, but to be there, to be in their living space, their creative space, is something I don’t think anyone can prepare for.
That being said, I know the scope of the movie is about their return, about them making Arirang [BTS’s 10th studio album] And the trials and tribulations involved. So this limitation actually makes me more creative. I’m so pleasantly surprised when you get these moments of discovery.
Many of their documentaries in the past have used talking heads. You get the sense that they were full of important, reflective, retrospective moments later in the process. I wanted the film to feel very present. Like, if I’m going to make a movie where we get caught up in the scene and the story, then I also want that same immediacy to the filmmaking. What I’ve learned over time is that driving feels very cinematic. Car journeys have a clear beginning, middle and end. And it’s also very lonely, especially in Los Angeles. This is a time when you can reflect and really think about your thoughts.
I mentioned Odyssey Think of BTS as a frame in some ways, and think of BTS as a modern mythical figure in some ways. Well, I just wanted to capture them thinking and looking out the window, but then Namjoon started talking about Kronos and Kairos. In that moment I captured something I had never imagined, and that’s the beauty of discovery when you’re creating something.
