Today the digital is the hottest issue in the field of cinema. The digital technology changes every parts of cinema - production/distribution/ screening/discussion. But most of discussion about digital cinema is enchained by the tautology. So, I want to change the focus from the digital technology itself to the cultural practice in the media environment based on the digital technology. Because, the technological change in the media changes the media experience, and it causes the radical change in the cinema production and consumption.
I think Lee Myoung Se's M(2007) is the distinguished case of changed film making n the media environment based on the digital technology. First, it has the shattered narrative. It has a very simple story about a man who is looking for a his bygone lover. But a dreams, illusions, memories are mixed with a real life, so audiences feel a chaotic experience. There is no coherent linear structure in this film. Instead there are some images which reflect some spaces. I think that it can be called a space montage. Second, this film has so many variations/repetitions in its structure. The repetitions and variations are not only a style but the structure of this film and its core- for example, mies en abyme. Third, this film shows a intermediality. This film uses many characteristics of other media - typography, cartoon, photography, paintings and so on. Many kinds of media coexist in this film. It means that this film is a kind of hypertext which connected to other texts. M cannot be said to be a typical digital cinema. But in these reasons, M shows a radical change of film making and reflects a cultural practice in the age of digital technology.